(Updated: Originally published October 25, 2006)
Didn't take the Neo-Con fascistas much time to carry out their agenda:
"Curb sought on counsel to detainees; US asks court to restrict talks with lawyers" by Farah Stockman/Boston Globe October 25, 2006
WASHINGTON -- The US government is seeking to sharply restrict communication between defense lawyers and inmates at Guantanamo Bay prison, asserting that some lawyers have given inmates "inflammatory" material such as reports of abuses at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison and news articles about terrorist attacks.
The government is seeking judicial approval for new rules that would allow defense lawyers only four visits with their clients, rather than the unlimited number now permitted; control the topics that can be discussed in such meetings; and restrict the types of information that can be exchanged between lawyers and detainees through the mail.
The government filed the new rules in August with the federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., which is currently reviewing them in connection with the case of a Guantanamo detainee. If the court agrees to the limitations, they are expected to be applied to future cases.
[Description in a word: GULAGS!!!]
Last month, Congress passed a law taking away the right to challenge detention in federal court.
Justice Department attorneys argued in their filings that stricter rules are needed because some defense lawyers have abused the system by sending detainees news articles about terrorist attacks in London, Iraq, and Israel; by providing a book about abuses of detainees in Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison; and by giving a detainee a transcript of a speech given at a conference held by the human-rights group Amnesty International.
[What a bunch of 'terrorists," huh?
Giving the inmates NEWS ARTICLES and READING MATERIALS!]
Commander Patrick M. McCarthy , a top military lawyer at Guantanamo Bay, wrote in the filings:
"The speech contained inflammatory information regarding current political events, as it contained information about ongoing efforts in the war on terror. Such information threatens the security of the camp, as it could incite violence among the detainees."
[Or your ability to CONTROL and TORTURE them, huh, you Nazi puke?!]
The current rules... require that attorneys obtain security clearance before they see classified evidence in a case. But the proposed rules state that in addition to security clearance, an attorney must "need to know" the information that is being sought, a determination that is made by the US government.
Under the current rules, the military must ask a judge for permission to make information off limits for an attorney to discuss with a client. But under the new rules, the military itself would have the power to declare information off limits, although defense lawyers could appeal that determination in court.
Under the current rules, legal mail is reviewed only to ensure that attorneys are not passing on physical contraband. Under the new rules, mail will be reviewed by a committee to screen out unnecessary information about the outside world.
[That last one really freaks me out! No info about the outside world?
Now THAT'S TORTURE!]
Currently, there are no limits on the number of visits a lawyer can have with a detainee. But the new rules allow a lawyer appealing an enemy-combatant designation one initial visit and a maximum of three additional visits.
Justice Department attorney Robert Loeb said in legal filings that lawyers do not need many meetings to file an appeal.
[It's called DENYING ACCESS in the world the rest of us live in.
And now, the real reason for this action by these fascista goons:]
Administration officials have expressed concern that information about those detainees -- and the conditions under which they were kept in secret prisons -- might leak out through defense attorneys."
[That's called COVERING UP your CRIMES; however, the same crowd would NEVER, EVER cover up wrongdoing on 9/11!!!]
