Pentagon Building New Secret Courtroom at Guantánamo Bay
The concept is to permit two military judges to hold proceedings simultaneously starting in mid-2023
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon is building a second courtroom for war crimes trials at Guantánamo Bay that will exclude the public from the chamber, the latest move toward secrecy in the nearly 20-year-old detention operation.
The new courtroom will permit two military judges to hold proceedings simultaneously starting in 2023.
On those occasions, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and the four other men who are accused of plotting the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, would have hearings in the existing chamber, which has a gallery for the public.
Smaller cases would be held in the new $4 million chamber. Members of the public seeking to watch those proceedings at Guantánamo would be shown a delayed video broadcast in a separate building.
It is 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. That includes forbidding photography of sites that were once routinely shown to visitors and declaring both populated and emptied wartime prison facilities off limits to reporters.
In Guantánamo’s current war court chamber, which opened in 2008, members of the public watching the proceedings live hear the audio on a 40-second delay, time enough for the judge or a security officer to mute the sound if they suspect something classified has been said.
That allowed spectators in the gallery in January 2013 to see the puzzled look of an Army judge after the C.I.A. remotely cut off video feeds of the proceedings. Another time, only observers in the room saw guards bring an uncooperative defendant into court strapped to a restraint chair, with a soldier following behind carrying his prosthetic leg.
First, thanks for the NYT material, most helpful. But the NYT is actually behind the curve on this story, as this much was known almost a year ago. Not faulting you on this, just the belated NYT coverage. Maybe they are just now waking up to facts that we have known here on GAW for some time now.
No. Why are you posting this again?
And... nope. Real Raw News is Real Raw Sewage.
I think real raw news is the one where the person who started the website said its all satire to make fun of us.
https://www-nytimes-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.nytimes.com/2021/12/29/us/politics/pentagon-guantanamo-secret-courtroom.amp.html?amp_gsa=1&_js_v=a9&usqp=mq331AQKKAFQArABIIACAw%3D%3D#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=16701603740960&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&share=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nytimes.com%2F2021%2F12%2F29%2Fus%2Fpolitics%2Fpentagon-guantanamo-secret-courtroom.html
Paywall, couldn't read it. I will not give one cent to the NYT.
Here you go:
Pentagon Building New Secret Courtroom at Guantánamo Bay The concept is to permit two military judges to hold proceedings simultaneously starting in mid-2023
WASHINGTON — The Pentagon is building a second courtroom for war crimes trials at Guantánamo Bay that will exclude the public from the chamber, the latest move toward secrecy in the nearly 20-year-old detention operation. The new courtroom will permit two military judges to hold proceedings simultaneously starting in 2023.
On those occasions, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and the four other men who are accused of plotting the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, would have hearings in the existing chamber, which has a gallery for the public.
Smaller cases would be held in the new $4 million chamber. Members of the public seeking to watch those proceedings at Guantánamo would be shown a delayed video broadcast in a separate building.
It is 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. That includes forbidding photography of sites that were once routinely shown to visitors and declaring both populated and emptied wartime prison facilities off limits to reporters.
In Guantánamo’s current war court chamber, which opened in 2008, members of the public watching the proceedings live hear the audio on a 40-second delay, time enough for the judge or a security officer to mute the sound if they suspect something classified has been said.
That allowed spectators in the gallery in January 2013 to see the puzzled look of an Army judge after the C.I.A. remotely cut off video feeds of the proceedings. Another time, only observers in the room saw guards bring an uncooperative defendant into court strapped to a restraint chair, with a soldier following behind carrying his prosthetic leg.
First, thanks for the NYT material, most helpful. But the NYT is actually behind the curve on this story, as this much was known almost a year ago. Not faulting you on this, just the belated NYT coverage. Maybe they are just now waking up to facts that we have known here on GAW for some time now.
I only posted their info because you said you couldn't get past the paywall. I know NYT is a controlled arm of the Left.
Real Raw bullshit. Do better with your sources please