WASHINGTON, July 16 (AFP) - All detainees in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have been notified of their right to challenge their detention in US courts, and special military tribunals will begin as early as next week to review their status as enemy combatants, a senior defense official said Friday.
Navy Secretary Gordon England said 90 to 95 percent of the nearly 600 detainees at the US naval station responded positively to notice of the tribunals, asking how soon they would begin and about their right to assistance by a military officer acting as their "personal representative."
The others responded negatively. "That is, crumbled up the notice and threw it on the floor, whatever," England said.
"So we have now notified every detainee at Guantanamo, and they have been notified of their opportunity to contest their status as an enemy combatant," he said.
England was unable to say what arrangements, if any, are being made to give detainees access to lawyers so they can contest their detention in US courts, referring questions to the Justice Department.
Habeas corpus petitions have now been filed in US federal courts on behalf of at least 27 detainees seeking their immediate release.
The status review tribunals consisting of three military officers will review the available facts about each detainee to determine whether he is being lawfully held as an enemy combatant.
Detainees can testify and present witnesses or affidavits on their own behalf, and they can avail themselves of assistance from a "personal representative," a military officer who is not a lawyer and is not bound by any rules of confidentiality.
They will not have access to classified information in their files, but their representative is supposed to give them an unclassified explanation of the case against them, he said.
The Pentagon created the process after Supreme Court rulings late last month raised questions about whether the prisoners have been accorded due process and affirmed their right to challenge their detention in US courts.
The Center for Constitutional Rights, a legal advocacy group that represents 53 Guantanamo detainees, attacked the tribunals as "a sham."
Joe Margulies, a lawyer with the group who argued one of the Supreme Court court cases, said "these tribunals are just another attempt to keep Guantanamo a lawless enclave."
"The tribunals can base their decisions on secret evidence hidden from the prisoner," he said.
"The procedures they use can change at any time, even if they recommend release, Secretary England can overturn their ruling, for any reason he wants, and the so-called personal representative provided for a detainee is, by design, not the prisoner's advocate."
England, who is in charge of the review process, said his goal was to conduct reviews of up to 72 cases a week by three tribunal teams.
Personal representatives will begin meeting with detainees next week and the first tribunal is expected to begin late next week or early the following week, he said.
He said tribunals will be open to press coverage by small pools of reporters although the first tribunals will not.
"It's just physically a matter of getting a pool together, getting clearances," he said. "And frankly, we would also like to, sort of, go through a process and ... make sure it's orderly and, you know. everything's in place."