GITMO EYES POSSIBLE EXECUTION CHAMBER

The Associated Press reports, “Guantanamo offi­cials are ready to pro­vide a court­room, a prison and an exe­cu­tion cham­ber if the order comes to try ter­ror sus­pects at the base in Cuba, the mis­sion com­man­der said.“

Although no new direc­tive has been given and no plans have been approved, a hand­ful of experts are look­ing at what it will take to try, imprison and, if need be, exe­cute detainees accused of links to Afghanistan’s fallen Taliban regime or to the al-​​Qaida ter­ror net­work…
Last month, offi­cials named Army Col. Frederic Borch III the chief pros­e­cu­tor and Air Force Col. Will Gunn as chief defense lawyer for the pro­posed tri­als. The Pentagon has listed 18 war crimes and eight other offenses that could be tried, includ­ing ter­ror­ist acts, and has issued rules for the tri­bunals.
Borch said he was look­ing at pros­e­cut­ing at least 10 pos­si­ble cases before a tri­bunal.
Some 680 detainees from 42 coun­tries are in Guantanamo, cat­e­go­rized as unlaw­ful com­bat­ants by the U.S. gov­ern­ment. It has refused demands from human rights orga­ni­za­tions to rec­og­nize them as pris­on­ers of war. They have no con­sti­tu­tional rights as non-U.S. cit­i­zens being held out­side U.S. ter­ri­tory, and none have been for­mally charged or allowed access to attor­neys.
The cases would be decided by a panel of three to seven mil­i­tary offi­cers who act as both judge and jury. Convictions could be handed down by a major­ity vote; a deci­sion to sen­tence a defen­dant to death would have to be unanimous. 

June 13th, 2003 | Uncategorized | Comments Off Both comments and pings are currently closed.