"The entire enterprise," said one critic of the tribunal process, "makes a mockery out of what the U.S. pretends to stand for."
Human rights advocates and attorneys representing Guantánamo Bay detainees on Thursday decried a secret new courtroom reportedly being built by the Pentagon at the notorious offshore US prison.
The New York Times reports Gitmo’s new second courtroom – which will cost $4 million – will not allow members of the public to witness proceedings against detainees to be tried for alleged terrorism-related offenses. People wishing to view those trials will have the option of watching delayed video footage in a separate building.
“I’ve observed trial proceedings in person at Guantánamo. The chipper ‘secrecy’ imposed by the military is insulting, anti-democratic, and cowardly,” said Michael Bronner, producer of the 2021 film The Mauritanian, which portrays Gitmo detainee Mohamedou Ould Slahi’s 14-year fight for freedom. “The entire enterprise makes a mockery out of what the US pretends to stand for.”
The way that the US talks about Cuba you would never think that we're the ones with the secretive courtrooms and lawless prison there. https://t.co/n9gIIHCydh — Jonathan 'Boo and Vote' Cohn (@JonathanCohn) December 30, 2021
The Times calls the second court “the latest retreat from transparency in the already secretive national security cases at the base, where the military and intelligence agencies have been restricting what the public can see.”
The paper says that the new court “appears to be tailor-made for the conspiracy murder trial of three men who were recently charged in two terrorist bombings in Indonesia in 2002 and 2003 that killed more than 200 people.”
Pentagon officials said the new courtroom – which is being built in the United States for assembly at Gitmo by 2023 – will enable prosecutors to hold two simultaneous trials. Camp Justice, Guantánamo’s court compound, consists of prefabricated structures and tents in order to circumvent the congressional approval needed for permanent buildings. The current main courtroom permits observers to watch live proceedings with a 40-second audio delay that allows judges or security officers to censor information they believe is classified.
“I’ve observed trials in Mongolia that were more transparent than this,” James R. Hodes, an attorney representing detainee Encep Nurjaman – also known as Hambali – in the Indonesian bombing case, told the Times.
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