The International Herald Tribune ran an article yesterday about the unfair trial of prisoners at Guantánamo bay. Defense lawyers preparing for the first Guantánamo prosecution to go to trial, possibly as soon as May, have been told that they may not tell their client the identities of witnesses against him. This violates the US sixth amendment right to face one’s accuser as well as the basic human right to fair trial.
Read the full article here: http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/12/01/america/gitmo.1-181335.php and watch this space for more news of the impending trial.
In case anyone is wondering why they can get away with this: the detainees aren’t protected by constitutional rights (they only apply to American citizens, which I understand is somewhat unique; other countries extend protection of human rights to everyone on their soil); and they aren’t protected by the articles of the Geneva Convention, because of a memorandum signed by a certain President (or see the timeline under 7 Feb 2002).