US judge rejects govt. plea to close Gitmo hearing
Iran Press TV
Fri Oct 3, 2014 5:36AM GMT
A US federal judge has rejected government plea to close a hearing into the force-feeding of a hunger striker in Washington's military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Forty-three-year-old Abu Wa'el Dhiab from Syria started his hunger strike 18 months ago to protest his indefinite confinement without charge. He is protesting force-feeding procedures administered by prison authorities.
On Monday, the Justice Department claimed that most of the information about Dhiab is classified, and said that 'an open hearing risks unauthorized disclosure of classified or protected information. The record in this case is large, with classified and protected information often inextricably intertwined with unclassified information.'
On Thursday, Judge Gladys Kessler, of the Washington DC district court, dismissed the government's argument that an open hearing would jeopardize national security, describing it as "extraordinary" and "deeply troubling".
"With such a long-standing and ongoing public interest at stake, it would be particularly egregious to bar the public from observing the credibility of live witnesses, the substance of their testimony, whether proper procedures are being followed, and whether the Court is treating all participants fairly," Kessler wrote in the ruling.
Dhiab, who has been fed through a nasal tube to prevent starvation, is challenging some of the tactics used by the military to deal with prisoners on hunger strike, according to documents filed in a federal court in Washington.
Dhiab is over six feet tall and now weighs only155 pounds, which is very thin for his height. One of his lawyers said that he was so weak that he had to lie on the floor when she met him this summer at the prison.
He said the military's practice of forcibly feeding detainees through tubes inserted through the nose into the stomach is abusive.
Dhiab has since been detained at the Guantanamo without any charges filed against him since 2002.
There are still about 150 inmates at the prison which was set up after the September 11, 2001, attacks. A mass hunger strike involved many of the prisoners in the summer of 2005 but the protest dwindled after the military began tying people down and force-feeding them liquid nutrients through tubes to prevent them from starving to death.
GJH/GJH
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