U.S. Opens Up Guantanamo Tribunals For First Time

US NAVAL BASE AT GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, Aug 5 (AFP) - With his feet shackled to the floor and his wrists bound, an Afghan 'war on terror' detainee on Thursday got a chance to ask whether he would ever be released from the Guantanamo Bay US detention camp.
The camp, surrounded by walls of razor wire and a forest of cactus, has been his prison for two and a half years although he has not been charged or seen a lawyer.
But facing widespread criticism over the physical and legal conditions here, US military authorities have started tribunals to review whether the Afghan and 584 other remaining al-Qaeda and Taliban inmates were properly classified as 'enemy combatants' when captured.
The Afghan's case was the first to be witnessed by the media, or any outside observer, in the cramped prefabricated hut in Camp Delta where the special tribunals have been held for the past week.
If it goes in their favour, the inmates from 40 countries including Britain, France, Australia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Morocco could be released.
But Navy Secretary Gordon England warned here on Wednesday that not many could expect to return home. Five of the first nine tribunal hearings have gone ahead without the inmates who boycotted proceedings.
The 31-year-old man, who cannot be named, admitted he had been with the Taliban in Afghanistan but said he would have been "crazy" to fight US forces.
"I surrendered myself to the Americans because I am believing that Americans are for human rights," he said speaking in Pashto, which was translated for the three member military panel.
Slightly built and with long black hair and a bushy beard, the man wore the orange outfit that has become a symbol of the Guantanamo detainees.
The tribunal was held in a windowless room about 6.2 metres (20 feet) by three metres (10 feet) that was converted from two old interview rooms.
There was just enough space for the detainee whose shackled feet were chained to a padlock in the floor, an officer who represents him, an interpreter and the three military tribunal members.
Three reporters were allowed in to watch as the Afghan kept his eyes on the ground as an Air Force officer put forth the case against him. He was then allowed to tell his side of the story.
According to the US authorities the man was a member of the Taliban who had a Kalashnikov rifle and was with a Taliban leader when captured in the northern Afghan city of Kunduz by forces of Northern Alliance warlord Abdul Rashid Dostam in late 2001.
The man told how he went to Kabul when the Taliban took power in Afghanistan "just to see the city".
He said he was hurt in one of the US bombing raids launched after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States by Osama bin Laden's group, which was protected by the Taliban.
After treatment he returned to his home region of Kunduz.
"After some time in Kunduz I heard that the Americans are coming.
"I surrendered myself to the Americans but many Taliban didn't do the same. Just because people are in the Taliban it does not mean they are all against the Americans," he said.
The detainee and the reporters were only allowed to listen to the unclassified part of the hearing.
US military officials admitted that the "key part" of the decision on "enemy combatant" status will be based on secret information present to the panel behind closed doors.
The detainee asked when he would know the decision and whether he would be sent back to his country. The tribunal's recommendation will be sent to Washington for confirmation before he is told.
Asked whether he had any final comment, the man replied: "I have nothing else to say, I am sick."
Civilian lawyers have condemned the tribunals as unfair because there is no independent legal representation.
But top US defence officials have insisted the hearings are "fair" and "professionally run".
Navy Secretary England said "these detainees are not prisoners of war. They are not part of a country that declared war on the United States. They do not follow the Geneva Convention. As a matter of fact they do completely the opposite."
England said lawyers do not represent prisoners of war but that the United States "has gone beyond what would happen with any prisoner of war, much less an enemy combatant."