Attorney Hina Shamsi Addresses Guantanamo

ACLU National Security Project Attorney and frequent Guantánamo Military Tribunal observer Hina Shamsi was featured in a live chat on Firedoglake in which she fielded questions about Guantánamo and the military commissions trials. It is a good overview on the ethical and legal problems that have plagued the proceedings in Guantanamo. An excerpt from the chat:

In a dramatic development in the commissions case against Mohammad Jawad, Lt. Col. Darrel Vandeveld, the lead prosecutor, resigned because he said he does not believe he can ethically proceed with the case.

Vandeveld testified that he turned from a “true believer” to “truly deceived” when he realized that possibly exculpatory information and other records were not being provided to defense lawyers as required — and simply could not be — because the process for gathering, maintaining and transferring records was in "utter disarray." According to Vandeveld, the systemic flaws "deprive the accused of basic due process and subject the well-intentioned prosecutor to claims of ethical misconduct."

It is worth a read.