The hearing is to be carried out via video chat
The prosecutors and
defenders are searching for a way to let lawyers talk with prisoners.
In order to restore
some access to Guantanamo’s isolated detainees, prosecutors in the trial over
the September 11, 2001 attacks are proposing weekly video meetings between the
five defendants and their lawyers, which would require both sides to work around
social distancing protocols mandated by the coronavirus pandemic.
The lawyers of Khalid
Shaikh Mohammed, the lead defendant in the death penalty case had asked trial
judge to let him speak with his lead lawyer, Gary D. Sowards, who is in self-quarantine
in Manhattan, in making the request they agreed that conversation could be
monitored.
In their side
prosecutors demanded hour-long video conferences, a complicated endeavour that
will require guards moving the defendants across the courtroom to speak with their
lawyers one by one through a secure video link to war headquarters in Alexandria,
Va.
The court has been
closed since February 25 and the judges in charge have cancelled hearings
because the prison, in order to limit the virus spread, has imposed strict
restrictions on access to the detainees.
As the international
committee of Red Cross said that it cancelled its quarterly visits to the
prison, which was scheduled for May 22, to June 5 because of the coronavirus
outbreak. The organization which helps connect the families and the prisoners since
the prison’s opening in 2002.
Source:NYT
0 Comments