Letters from all detainees arrive with large protions blacked out
In a letter from Guantánamo Bay, a 26-year-old terror suspect pleaded with his family to secure him legal help after being transferred to the U.S. military prison last year from secret CIA custody with 13 other ''high-value'' detainees.
Majid Khan, a Pakistan native who graduated from a Maryland high school said he lives in solitary confinement at the detention center, but speaks with other detainees through the walls of his cell. He is allowed outdoors for an hour a day ''to get sunburn,'' he said.
The Bush administration alleges that Khan was groomed for an al Qaeda attack inside the United States by Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the reputed Sept. 11 mastermind who is also held at Guantánamo.
''They don't have single prove [sic] to link me with anything,'' Khan, who was arrested in Pakistan in 2003, wrote his family, urging them to find lawyers ``to fight my case.'' Khan's family got four letters delivered by the Red Cross, then released them through attorneys. The U.S. military deleted large chunks of the letters before their release to the Red Cross.
Their existence was first reported Thursday in The Washington Post.One letter, dated Oct. 20, begins: ''In this letter I am going to mention some of the things I have been through.'' Most of the rest of that page is blacked out.Khan complained that Guantánamo does not have basketball courts or weightlifting equipment.
The Bush administration has not allowed communication between Khan and defense attorneys, arguing that he could reveal information about interrogation tactics used in secret CIA prisons that would allow terrorists to adapt their training.Gitanjali Gutierrez, an attorney whose has sought access to Khan, said she was frustrated by the plea for help.''He says he's done nothing wrong, and the military has been resistant to him even communicating with lawyers,'' she said.
The military says the ''high-value'' detainees receive the same treatment as about 380 other men held at Guantánamo Bay on suspicion of links to al Qaeda or the Taliban.The others have had status review hearings declaring them ''enemy combatants.'' Khan and the other recent arrivals still have not appeared before the panels.
Source: Miami Herald
Majid Khan, a Pakistan native who graduated from a Maryland high school said he lives in solitary confinement at the detention center, but speaks with other detainees through the walls of his cell. He is allowed outdoors for an hour a day ''to get sunburn,'' he said.
The Bush administration alleges that Khan was groomed for an al Qaeda attack inside the United States by Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the reputed Sept. 11 mastermind who is also held at Guantánamo.
''They don't have single prove [sic] to link me with anything,'' Khan, who was arrested in Pakistan in 2003, wrote his family, urging them to find lawyers ``to fight my case.'' Khan's family got four letters delivered by the Red Cross, then released them through attorneys. The U.S. military deleted large chunks of the letters before their release to the Red Cross.
Their existence was first reported Thursday in The Washington Post.One letter, dated Oct. 20, begins: ''In this letter I am going to mention some of the things I have been through.'' Most of the rest of that page is blacked out.Khan complained that Guantánamo does not have basketball courts or weightlifting equipment.
The Bush administration has not allowed communication between Khan and defense attorneys, arguing that he could reveal information about interrogation tactics used in secret CIA prisons that would allow terrorists to adapt their training.Gitanjali Gutierrez, an attorney whose has sought access to Khan, said she was frustrated by the plea for help.''He says he's done nothing wrong, and the military has been resistant to him even communicating with lawyers,'' she said.
The military says the ''high-value'' detainees receive the same treatment as about 380 other men held at Guantánamo Bay on suspicion of links to al Qaeda or the Taliban.The others have had status review hearings declaring them ''enemy combatants.'' Khan and the other recent arrivals still have not appeared before the panels.
Source: Miami Herald
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