The Associated Press, 08 February 2006
WASHINGTON — More than half of the terrorism suspects being held at the prison at Guantanamo Bay have not been accused of committing hostile acts against the U.S. or its allies, two of the detainees' lawyers said in a report released Tuesday.
Compiled from declassified Defense Department evaluations of the more than 500 detainees at the U.S. facility in Cuba, the report says 8% are listed as fighters for terrorist groups, whereas 30% are considered members of terrorist groups, and the remainder were "associated with" terrorists.
A Pentagon spokesman had no comment on the report.
The evaluations were completed as part of the Combatant Status Review Tribunals conducted during 2004 to determine whether the prisoners were being correctly held as "enemy combatants." Just 10 of the detainees have been formally charged with crimes and are headed for military tribunals.
According to the report, 55% of the detainees are informally accused of committing hostile acts. But the descriptions of their actions ranged from a high-ranking Taliban member who allegedly tortured and killed Afghan natives to people who reportedly possessed rifles, used a guesthouse or wore olive-drab clothing.
The report also found that about one-third of the detainees were allegedly linked to Al Qaeda; 22% to the Taliban; 28% to both; and 7% to either one or the other, but not specified.
"The government has detained these individuals for more than four years, without a trial or judicial hearing, and has had unfettered access to each detainee for that time," said the report, written by lawyers who represent two of the detainees. The lawyers — Mark Denbeaux, a law professor at Seton Hall University in New Jersey, and Joshua Denbeaux — were assisted by Seton Hall law students.
The documents, which are publicly available, were declassified versions of evaluations that contained additional information about each detainee. Those additional details were not made public.
Of the approximately 760 prisoners brought to Guantanamo Bay since 2002, the military has released 180 and transferred 76 to the custody of other countries.
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Citation: "Report Says Most Detainees Not Accused of Hostile Acts," The Associated Press, 08 February 2006.
Original URL: http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-gitmo8feb08,1,4339518.story
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