SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - A lawyer for one of three Guantanamo Bay detainees who committed suicide said Monday the U.S. government thwarted his attempts to represent the man "at every turn."
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Lawyers Jeff Davis and George Daly filed papers in U.S. District Court in Washington in September challenging the detention of Mani Shaman Turki al-Habardi al-Utaybi, one of three prisoners found hanging inside their wire mesh cells before dawn Saturday.
The legal challenge, known as a writ of habeas corpus, was one of hundreds filed by defense attorneys on behalf of detainees at the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where the U.S. now holds about 460 men accused of links to al-Qaida or the Taliban.
But the government asserted that Davis and Daly had not adequately identified the detainee — they initially gave a different version of his name — and lacked the proper authority to file a legal challenge on his behalf, court records show.
In April, the lawyers said the government refused to deliver mail to their client. They also complained that the Pentagon delayed their security clearances to visit the detainee at the base. Davis said Monday their defense was hampered "at every turn" by the government.
In the end, the lawyers never spoke with their client. When Daly was finally granted permission recently to visit al-Utaybi, the detainee refused to meet with him for unknown reasons.
When announcing the suicides on Saturday, the military said none of the three men had lawyers or had filed habeas petitions. But in court papers filed Monday, the U.S. acknowledged the two lawyers had represented al-Utaybi, noting he was "now deceased as a result of apparent suicide."
U.S. military officials did not immediately respond to e-mails asking why they had said al-Utaybi did not have counsel. In court papers, the government defended its holding of detainees at Guantanamo, saying annual reviews are sufficient to ensure the government doesn't unnecessarily hold any detainees at the base.
Military officials also said Monday they will conduct an internal review of the rules for handling and monitoring detainees at the base, separate from a probe by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service into the deaths of the men.
"We will be looking at what were the procedures and were these procedures followed," Guantanamo spokesman Navy Cmdr. Robert Durand said by phone from the U.S. base in Cuba. "And do the procedures need to be modified?"
The military had accused al-Utaybi, 30, of being a member of a militant missionary group, Jama'at Al Tablighi, with ties to al-Qaida. He was not charged with any crimes and had been recommended for transfer back to his native Saudi Arabia.
Davis said he had seen no solid evidence that al-Utaybi had militant connections.
The lawyers, who had argued that al-Utaybi should have been released, do not know why the detainee killed himself or if he knew he was due to be transferred, Davis said.
"He must have been in a great deal of pain to do have done this," he said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060613...Eyl0VlhbXRvaA8F;_ylu=X3oDMTA0cDJlYmhvBHNlYwM-
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Lawyers Jeff Davis and George Daly filed papers in U.S. District Court in Washington in September challenging the detention of Mani Shaman Turki al-Habardi al-Utaybi, one of three prisoners found hanging inside their wire mesh cells before dawn Saturday.
The legal challenge, known as a writ of habeas corpus, was one of hundreds filed by defense attorneys on behalf of detainees at the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where the U.S. now holds about 460 men accused of links to al-Qaida or the Taliban.
But the government asserted that Davis and Daly had not adequately identified the detainee — they initially gave a different version of his name — and lacked the proper authority to file a legal challenge on his behalf, court records show.
In April, the lawyers said the government refused to deliver mail to their client. They also complained that the Pentagon delayed their security clearances to visit the detainee at the base. Davis said Monday their defense was hampered "at every turn" by the government.
In the end, the lawyers never spoke with their client. When Daly was finally granted permission recently to visit al-Utaybi, the detainee refused to meet with him for unknown reasons.
When announcing the suicides on Saturday, the military said none of the three men had lawyers or had filed habeas petitions. But in court papers filed Monday, the U.S. acknowledged the two lawyers had represented al-Utaybi, noting he was "now deceased as a result of apparent suicide."
U.S. military officials did not immediately respond to e-mails asking why they had said al-Utaybi did not have counsel. In court papers, the government defended its holding of detainees at Guantanamo, saying annual reviews are sufficient to ensure the government doesn't unnecessarily hold any detainees at the base.
Military officials also said Monday they will conduct an internal review of the rules for handling and monitoring detainees at the base, separate from a probe by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service into the deaths of the men.
"We will be looking at what were the procedures and were these procedures followed," Guantanamo spokesman Navy Cmdr. Robert Durand said by phone from the U.S. base in Cuba. "And do the procedures need to be modified?"
The military had accused al-Utaybi, 30, of being a member of a militant missionary group, Jama'at Al Tablighi, with ties to al-Qaida. He was not charged with any crimes and had been recommended for transfer back to his native Saudi Arabia.
Davis said he had seen no solid evidence that al-Utaybi had militant connections.
The lawyers, who had argued that al-Utaybi should have been released, do not know why the detainee killed himself or if he knew he was due to be transferred, Davis said.
"He must have been in a great deal of pain to do have done this," he said.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060613...Eyl0VlhbXRvaA8F;_ylu=X3oDMTA0cDJlYmhvBHNlYwM-