Gitmo guards accused of ‘document seizures’

Source: the News

Gitmo guards accused of ‘document seizures’
Friday, October 25, 2013
From Print Edition

FORT MEADE, Md: An attorney for a man charged with plotting the Sept 11 attacks accused US military guards at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility on Thursday of seizing his client’s private legal documents.

The allegation from Navy Lieutenant Commander Walter Ruiz called into question whether five defendants undergoing a pretrial hearing in the Guantanamo war crimes tribunal can expect a fair trial on charges of terrorism, hijacking and murdering nearly 3,000 people.

Ruiz represents Saudi defendant Mustafa al Hawsawi, who is accused of wiring money to the Sept 11 airplane hijackers to fund their 2001 attack on the United States. Ruiz said Guantanamo guards seized documents from Hawsawi’s cell that were marked “attorney-client privilege.”

Under US law, a criminal defendant’s right to representation by counsel includes a right to confidential communications with an attorney and private legal documents. “We have an issue of unlawful authority,” Ruiz said. Under questioning from Ruiz, Navy Commander George Massucco admitted that a Guantanamo guard seized documents from Hawsawi’s cell and put them in an envelope.



Read more: http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-1-210135-Gitmo-guards-accused-of-document-seizures