BEN FOX
Associated Press
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) — Lawyers for Guantanamo prisoners charged in the Sept. 11 attack say the FBI has questioned more support staff on their legal teams, a development that may prompt a new detour in an already snarled case as the war crimes tribunal reconvened Monday at this U.S. base.
The trial by military commission of the five prisoners was derailed in April when the attorney for one defendant revealed that a member of his support staff was questioned at home by the FBI and asked to provide information on others who work for the defense.
Lawyers say they have since learned that at least three others were questioned in two separate investigations over the past year. They want the judge to conduct a full hearing with witnesses into the issue despite government assurances that the investigations have been closed.
“The facts as we know them give rise to a potential conflict of interest, and when that happens, U.S. Supreme Court decisions are clear: The judge has an obligation to conduct a thorough inquiry,” said David Nevin, the lead civilian attorney for defendant Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
Little is publicly known about the two investigations. Lawyers say the FBI questioned an investigator and a classified material analyst for the team representing defendant Ramzi Binalshibh; an investigator for defendant Mustafa al-Hawsawi; and a translator on the team representing Mohammed, who has portrayed himself as the mastermind of the terror attack on Sept. 11, 2001.
James Harrington, a lawyer for Binalshibh, told the court his investigator denied speaking to the FBI and has left his team. “We have had basically a spy within our team for a number of months,” he said.
Prosecutors have said the FBI questioned the evidence technician as part of a preliminary investigation into the mishandling of classified evidence and the probe ended without charges.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Fernando Campoamor-Sanchez, a Justice Department prosecutor, urged the judge to put the matter to rest since the FBI is no longer investigating anyone. “The case law really establishes very clearly that if there is no investigation there can be no conflict.”
Nevin told the court that the questioning of support personnel has prompted him to curb his defense activities, prompting him to cancel an investigative trip to the Middle East, out of fear that he is under scrutiny. “I am trimming my sails. I am pulling my punches,” he said.
The government is seeking to resume pretrial proceedings for the five prisoners, who face charges that include terrorism and murder for their alleged roles planning and providing logistics in the attack and could get the death penalty if convicted. Since their May 2012 arraignment, there have been 10 pretrial hearings in what officials have called the most complex terrorism trial in U.S. history.
Brig. Gen. Mark Martins, the chief prosecutor, said the case is making “methodical and deliberate movement” toward trial but no date has been set. “Delay is frustrating and I acknowledge that.”
Lawyers for the defendants say the FBI investigations of defense team staff are part of a pattern of interference in their ability to represent the men, including the monitoring of written communications with their clients and the revelation in February 2013 that the rooms in which they meet with clients contained microphones apparently disguised to look like smoke detectors.
They are seeking a weeklong hearing in August that would feature testimony from the FBI agents and the defense team members who were questioned. Several also independent lawyers to advise their clients about any potential conflict.
The judge, Army Col. James Pohl, adjourned the hearing without issuing a ruling.
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