New law dashes Bay hopes
By GEOFFREY BEW
Published: 29th October 2006
THE two remaining Bahraini detainees at Guantanamo Bay could be left without any legal representation following US government moves to limit contact with their lawyers. Legal team head Joshua Colangelo-Bryan said that the US government was arguing that under the Military Communications Act, which recently became law, attorneys are not permitted extensive access to their clients at Guantanamo.
The lawyer says politicians are also demanding that attorneys be restricted on the information they can discuss with their clients.
New law dashes Bay hopes
By GEOFFREY BEW
Published: 29th October 2006
THE two remaining Bahraini detainees at Guantanamo Bay could be left without any legal representation following US government moves to limit contact with their lawyers. Legal team head Joshua Colangelo-Bryan said that the US government was arguing that under the Military Communications Act, which recently became law, attorneys are not permitted extensive access to their clients at Guantanamo.
The lawyer says politicians are also demanding that attorneys be restricted on the information they can discuss with their clients.
The extent of the new law’s power was currently being debated in the courts, although no timescale has been given for an outcome.
“Considering that the only way we can have meaningful contact with our clients is through visits it would be disastrous if they were limited,” Mr Colangelo-Bryan told the GDN.
“More significantly, the government is arguing that this new law requires the courts to throw out our (civil) cases (requesting a fair hearing for the detainees).
“We will obviously fight against that, but it is another reason why diplomatic action such as that we just saw with Salah Al Blooshi is of critical importance.”
The 24-year-old was released from custody and returned to Bahrain earlier this month. He was held for nearly five years without charge or trial at Camp 4 in the Cuba detention facility, reportedly for prisoners who were “not considered a threat”.
The remaining two are Isa Abdulla Al Murbati, 41 and Juma Mohammed Al Dossary, 32.
Mr Al Dossary is held in isolation at the camp’s mental health unit and is reportedly suffering from a variety of health problems.
According to the US military, he had tried to kill himself 13 times.
Mr Al Murbati is detained at Camp 1, allegedly the highest security section at the prison, after being forced off a hunger strike last December.
Both are approaching their fifth year without charge or trial.
Three other Bahrainis, Adel Kamel Hajee, Abdulla Al Nuaimi and Shaikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa, were released last November.
Mr Colangelo-Bryan says he and his colleagues only typically visit their clients every few months.
“It is hardly frequent contact for someone who is completely deprived of any communication,” he said.
“When you think about Juma who had tried to kill himself, in part because of his isolation, anything that will increase his isolation is a tremendous concern for us.
“Occasionally they may see members of the Red Cross but that is it.”
The lawyer says the implications of the government’s intentions were critical.
“Conceivably it could end our representation of these people,” he said.
“It is a question of what the courts do next.
“They (the US government) want to have our cases terminated, which would mean at some point we would have no access to the courts in terms of getting them a fair hearing and no access to our clients.
Mr Colangelo-Bryan believes the government’s motives were clear.
“They do not want to have any detainee getting a fair hearing and they do not want to have any attorneys at Guantanamo who can disclose information about conditions there to the rest of the world.”
Human rights activists have described the US government proposals as “worrying”.
“The contact these lawyers have with the Bahraini detainees is the only way we and their families can know what is happening to them,” said the now-dissolved Bahrain Centre for Human Rights vice-president Nabeel Rajab, who has been locally spearheading the campaign for their release.
“I am also sure it is an important way of giving them hope, that after five years of being held without trial there is still a chance that they will be dealt with in a just way.”
He urged the Bahraini government to continue to push for the release of the detainees.
© Gulf Daily News
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