Freedom a long way off for some detainees

Sunday, October 10, 2004 · Last updated 11:27 a.m. PT
By PAISLEY DODDS
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba <snip>

Set up to extract information from suspected terrorists, the Guantanamo mission has the United States confronting multiplying criticism over the detention of people for nearly three years without trial and questions about what more it can gain from continuing to hold them. <snip>

The Supreme Court ruled in June that prisoners held at this Navy base on the eastern tip of Cuba have a right to challenge their detentions in U.S. courts. The Defense Department hastily set up review tribunals to evaluate whether they had rightly been detained as enemy combatants, a classification with fewer legal protections than prisoners of war.

Among dozens of cases rushed before the tribunals - where lawyers are barred from participating - only one man has been released. <snip>

There have been 34 suicide attempts at Guantanamo, and though there has not been one since January, the prisoners' mental health continues to be a concern. <snip>

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apwashington_story.asp?category=1152&slug=Guantanamo%20Terror%20Suspects