Mock Justice: Defendants in Guantanamo Bay Hearings Do Not Have Lawyers

A federal court was asked Monday to order a halt to military hearings aimed at determining whether the Pentagon can continue holding hundreds of terror suspects at a Navy base in Cuba. Last week the Pentagon held the first hearing for a detainee at Guantanamo Bay. The administrative hearings are to determine whether the prisoners are being held properly. More are expected this week in a process that is expected to take up to four months. Human rights lawyers said the prisoners are not getting a chance to defend themselves. "These tribunals are a sham," said Jeff Fogel, legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, which asked a federal judge in Washington for an emergency stay. The center represents 53 of the nearly 600 prisoners at Guantanamo. "The so-called personal representatives assigned to them have no legal background and are not advocates." [more]