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Washington Post - November 4, 2006
U.S. seeks silence on CIA prisons
Court Is Asked to Bar Detainees From Talking About Interrogations
By Carol D. Leonnig and Eric Rich
The Bush administration has told a federal judge that terrorism suspects held in secret CIA prisons should not be allowed to reveal details of the "alternative interrogation methods" that their captors used to get them to talk.
The government says in new court filings that those interrogation methods are now among the nation's most sensitive national security secrets and that their release -- even to the detainees' own attorneys -- "could reasonably be expected to cause extremely grave damage." Terrorists could use the information to train in counter-interrogation techniques and foil government efforts to elicit information about their methods and plots, according to government documents submitted to U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton on Oct. 26.
The battle over legal rights for terrorism suspects detained for years in CIA prisons centers on Majid Khan, a 26-year-old former Catonsville resident who was one of 14 high-value detainees transferred in September from the "black" sites to the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. A lawyer with the Center for Constitutional Rights, which represents many detainees at Guantanamo, is seeking emergency access to him.
The government, in trying to block lawyers' access to the 14 detainees, effectively asserts that the detainees' experiences are a secret that should never be shared with the public.
Because Khan "was detained by CIA in this program, he may have come into possession of information, including locations of detention, conditions of detention, and alternative interrogation techniques that is classified at the TOP SECRET//SCI level," an affidavit from CIA Information Review Officer Marilyn A. Dorn states, using the acronym for "sensitive compartmented information."
Gitanjali Gutierrez, an attorney for Khan's family, responded in a court document yesterday that there is no evidence that Khan had top-secret information. "Rather," she said, "the executive is attempting to misuse its classification authority . . . to conceal illegal or embarrassing executive conduct."
Joseph Margulies, a Northwestern University law professor who has represented several detainees at Guantanamo, said the prisoners "can't even say what our government did to these guys to elicit the statements that are the basis for them being held. Kafka-esque doesn't do it justice. This is 'Alice in Wonderland.' "
Kathleen Blomquist, a Justice Department spokeswoman, said yesterday that details of the CIA program must be protected from disclosure. She said the lawyer's proposal for talking with Khan "is inadequate to protect unique and potentially highly classified information that is vital to our country's ability to fight terrorism."
Government lawyers also argue in court papers that detainees such as Khan previously held in CIA sites have no automatic right to speak to lawyers because the new Military Commissions Act, signed by President Bush last month, stripped them of access to U.S. courts. That law established separate military trials for terrorism suspects.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is considering whether Guantanamo detainees have the right to challenge their imprisonment in U.S. courts. The government urged Walton to defer any decision on access to lawyers until the higher court rules…………..
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/03/AR2006110301793.html
Islamonline – November 1, 2006
US behind expelling Paris airport Muslims
By Hadi Yahmid
Cordet reportedly told Muslims leaders Paris came under intense pressures from the US and Britain to sack the Muslim workers.
PARIS - The expulsion of seasonal Muslim workers from the Charles de Gaulle airport outside Paris over "security concerns" came under pressures from American and British authorities, sources told IslamOnlne.net.
A source with the Union of Muslim Organizations of Saint Denis said Saint Denis Mayor Jean Francois Cordet had told union's head Mohammed Hanish at an iftar banquet during the last days of Ramadan about the pressures.
"He said the French government came under intense pressures from the United States and Britain to sack the Muslim workers," added the source, requesting anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
The seasonal Muslim workers were barred on October 21 from working at the airport after police withdrew their access badges.
They lost their security clearances -- which allowed them to work in airport customs zones -- because France's Anti-terrorist Coordination Unit (UCLAT) said they posed "a risk to the airport's security" or were simply deemed "dangerous."
Cordet had sent notifications to the workers that they need to establish their innocence from the charges.
The umbrella French Council for the Muslim Faith (CFCM) has pledged to closely follow up the issue….
http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2006-10/31/04.shtml
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