Gitmo Trial Defendants Face Absurd Obstacles

clipped from rawstory.com When accused September 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed grumbled to the U.S. military war tribunal he couldn't get paper or file legal motions with the court, he was told to put his complaints in legal papers and file them with the court. When he asked for documents to be translated into Arabic so he could read them, he was told there was no requirement for the U.S. military commissions that will try his death penalty case to do that. But the judge said he would think about it. Lawyers for the five men accused of plotting the hijacked airliner attacks on the United States say the complaints brought last week before the war court in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, exemplify the trouble the men face getting a fair trial before the first U.S. military tribunals since World War Two. "You have from the sublime to the ridiculous. You have from the mundane to the serious and significant," said David Nevin, a defense lawyer assigned to Mohammed.

Another problem is that what the defendants tell their lawyers is classified. As a result, they can't even discuss their conversations among themselves.

"When we leave the room and we're not with him (Mohammed) any more, we can't turn to each other and say 'What do you think of what he just said?'" said Nevin, who has called the commission process "very, very unfair."

"And at the end of this, the government's desire is to execute Mr. Mohammed," said Capt. Prescott Prince, another of Mohammed's legal advisers. "I find that just insane."

Calling this "justice" is a joke.