Leahy: Open Gitmo proceedings

http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/06/leahy_open_gitmo_proceedings.html

Leahy: Open Gitmo proceedings
Posted June 6, 2008 2:34 PM
The Swamp


by James Oliphant

Sen. Patrick Leahy Friday called for the Justice Department to provide access to the Guantanamo Bay military tribunals for families of the victims of the 9/11 attacks.

In a letter to Attorney General Michael Mukasey, Leahy complained that only one family member--a supporter of the Bush administration--had been allowed to attend the proceedings this week involving alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed and other alleged conspirators.

Leahy wrote:


After the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, we passed several measures to provide for the rights and interests of the victims and their families, including measures to help them attend the trial, and to watch the trial on closed circuit television. I do not understand why similar provisions were not made for the 9/11 families and victims.

We also enacted, as part of the Justice for All Act of 2004 (Public Law 108-405), federal rights for victims. In the Scott Campbell, Stephanie Roper, Wendy Preston, Louarna Gillis, and Nila Lynn Crime Victims' Rights Act, we expressly provided for the right to reasonable, accurate, and timely notice of any public court proceeding; the right not to be excluded from any such public court proceeding; the right to be reasonably heard at any public proceeding involving release, plea, sentencing, or parole; the reasonable right to confer with the attorney for the Government in the case; the right to full and timely restitution as provided in law; the right to proceedings free from unreasonable delay; and the right to be treated with fairness and with respect for the victim's dignity and privacy.

I write to you, our chief law enforcement officer, to ask what has been done to ensure that the 9/11 victims are being treated with respect and dignity, and what accommodations were made to protect their rights, given that the Government has chosen to proceed before military commissions at Guantanamo.

Earlier this week, a group of families critical of the tribunals wrote to the Convening Authority, the military officer which oversees the proceedings, to complain they had been excluded.