User:Geo Swan/Guantanamo/shackles

This is not a Wikipedia article: It is an individual user's rough notes page, and may be incomplete and/or unreliable.

Another wikipedia contributor recently started an unilateral initiative to remove from the captions of images of the trailer where CSR Tribunals were held that the captives were shackled, hand and foot, to a bolt in the floor. This other contributor replaced the caption with another caption that asserts that the Tribunals were merely usually held in a small trailer. This contributor failed to provide a single referenct to back up their assertion that some captives attended Tribunals that were not held in a trailer like the one pictured.

In March 2007, describing the upcoming CSR Tribunals of the high value detainees Carol Rosenberg wrote^[1]:

"If all follows Pentagon plans, sometime today alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed or another of 13 so-called high-value captives will be led in shackles into a trailer at Guantánamo Bay and be chained to the floor." "There is one key difference: The Pentagon announced this week it was imposing a media blackout on the proceedings -- meaning a small table inside the room for three reporters subject to special ground rules will not be used. Instead of sitting in an anteroom until soldiers snap on surgical gloves and escort a prisoner inside the tiny, makeshift room with its chilly air conditioner, reporters will wait hundreds of miles away." "The hearings were all held inside prefabricated trailer-style buildings that were planted on gravel inside Camp Delta. They have toilets, special security monitors and mostly modest office furniture." "Then came the classified portion. Reporters were ushered out; guards once again donned surgical gloves and led the shackled captive out the door."

Rosenberg writes for the Miami Herald, the major newspaper in the city closest to Guantanamo. Her bosses authorized her to provide more thorough coverage of the Guantanamo captive operations than any other reporter. She attended more Tribunals than any other reporter. I believe her article definitively establishes that all the captives were shackled all the time.

Other references confirm the shackling.^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]

Numerous captives Tribunal transcripts contain passages where the captives and the Tribunal Presidents discussed the shackling:

I direct your attention to page 1

	While the Tribunal President explained the Convening order to the Detainee, the Detainee stated he wanted his hands released.
Tribunal President:	That is not within our power to do that.
Detainee:	There is a difference between the law and being brutal.
Tribunal President:	We are here to only discuss your enemy combatant status and the handcuffs will stay on.

I direct your attention to page 3

Detainee:	Can I take these cuffs off?
Tribunal President:	The cuffs have to stay on.
Detainee:	I can't read without my glasses, I need my hand to get the paper. These cuffs are for criminals, and I am not a criminal.
Tribunal President:	Unfortunately 'we have no leeway with that, and you are required to have them on.

I direct your attention to page 46

Detainee:	Is it time for someone to loosen my handcuffs a little bit?
Tribunal President:	We have spoken to the guards, and the handcuffs are per the SOP, so they will remain as they are.
Detainee:	It's OK to be tied up, but they are amazingly tight and making marks on my arm.
Tribunal President:	Try moving them down your wrist a little bit, that would probably help.
Detainee:	It hurts a lot
	At this time, the Tribunal President paused the Tribunal briefly to allow the guards to loosen the handcuffs for the Detainee.

I direct your attention to page 15

	When asked by the Tribunal President if the detainee had any questions concerning the Tribunal process, the Detainee answered:
	Please forgive me for asking but I have seen courts all over the world and 'I have never seen one were there are handcuffs
Tribunal President:	I understand If you have questions about this Tribunal at anytime, please ask.
Detainee:	Is this an American Tribunal or an International Tribunal?
Tribunal President:	This is an American Tribunal
Detainee:	This is the first time I have been in front of a Tribunal, maybe you know if you can keep the handcuffs during the Tribunal?
Tribunal President:	This is a military administrative process. Tt is not a civil judge court process.
Detainee:	I asked this question for myself to understand if American courts use handcuffs.
Tribunal President:	This is a military process and procedure that we are following for everyone. That is our system here today.

I direct your attention to page 20

If it is possible can you please turn down the air conditioner? How come I am not comfortable sitting right here? It is a little bit chilly and I am still handcuffed. This is too tight on my hands. I cannot be comfortable like this. The handcuffs are cutting into my hands.

I direct your attention to pages 3-4

Tribunal President:	We will have an opportunity to ask you questions after we go through the Unclassified Summary. Ahmad, let me just ask you one question. Are your cuffs on too tight?
Detainee:	Yes.
Tribunal President:	Let's take a brief recess to allow the guards to come in and loosen the cuffs on him. Personal Representative, please track where we are on the Unclassified Summary.

I direct your attention to page 22

The cuffs are on my hands and I don't have freedom to move my hands (Detainee dropped his paperwork). That's what you are saying that I should have cuffs on, so I guess I'm going to have to stay with the cuffs on.

References

^ Carol Rosenberg (2007-03-11). "'High-value' hearings held in secret". Miami Herald. Archived from the original on 2010-01-10.
^ Andrew Buncombe (2004-11-10). "Military tribunals at Guantanamo ruled illegal by US judge". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2010-01-10. But yesterday, Guantanamo detainees continued to appear in shackles before tribunals under an American flag tacked to the walls of a trailer. One Yemeni, in a white skullcap, admitted he was a fighter for the Taliban. He said he left school in Yemen, then went to Afghanistan after a religious leader issued a fatwa, or religious edict, ordering Muslims to help the regime.
^ Jackie Northam (2006-11-21). "Tapes Provide First Glimpse of Secret Gitmo Panels". National Public Radio. Archived from the original on 2010-01-10. The audio recordings of the Combatant Status Review Tribunals are scratchy, of poor quality and don't pick up much of what's happening in the small room: You can't sense facial expressions or body language, or that the detainee's arms and legs are shackled.
^ Naomi Wolf (2009-07-25). "Guantánamo Bay: the inside story". The Times. Archived from the original on 2010-01-10. here was a final stop: another trailer inside the same area as Camp Delta, where the Combat Status Review Board takes place. There were security cameras in the corners of the room covered with towels for, we were told, "classification reasons". There Captain Dan Bauer, another handsome, dark-haired, pleasant man, explained the combat status review tribunal (CSRT) process. Twenty serious-looking high-ranking military men sat to our right watching his presentation to us. In the room was his desk: and two chairs facing it. I turned on my little Flip camera and started recording. Captain Bauer claimed in his talk that witnesses were brought in from outside"whenever reasonable". I looked at the base of both chairs. Both chairs had shackles. The process had been "formed", Captain Bauer explained, "to afford the detainees the opportunity to attend and provide witness statements that were relevant and readily available on behalf of their own defence". The system, he repeated several times, sorts them into those who are "enemy combatants" and those who are "no longer enemy combatants".
^ Kathleen T. Rhem (August 29, 2004). "Reporters Offered Look Inside Combatant Status Review Tribunals". American Forces Press Service. Archived from the original on 2010-01-10. Retrieved 2008-03-01. Following is a description of an actual hearing as observed by a reporter visiting Guantanamo. The tribunal described here happened on Aug. 25 and was the 36th that has occurred. The detainee was already in the room when the panel members entered. He showed little emotion and made few movements. The man had a long, dark beard, close- cropped hair and wore a black crocheted skullcap. He wore a bright orange short-sleeved shirt and pants that resembled hospital scrubs. He was handcuffed and wore leg irons. The leg manacles were secured to a ring in the floor with a padlock. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

[MiamiHerald-1] Carol Rosenberg (2007-03-11). "'High-value' hearings held in secret". Miami Herald. Archived from the original on 2010-01-10.

[TheIndependent2004-11-10-2] Andrew Buncombe (2004-11-10). "Military tribunals at Guantanamo ruled illegal by US judge". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2010-01-10. But yesterday, Guantanamo detainees continued to appear in shackles before tribunals under an American flag tacked to the walls of a trailer. One Yemeni, in a white skullcap, admitted he was a fighter for the Taliban. He said he left school in Yemen, then went to Afghanistan after a religious leader issued a fatwa, or religious edict, ordering Muslims to help the regime.

[Npr-3] Jackie Northam (2006-11-21). "Tapes Provide First Glimpse of Secret Gitmo Panels". National Public Radio. Archived from the original on 2010-01-10. The audio recordings of the Combatant Status Review Tribunals are scratchy, of poor quality and don't pick up much of what's happening in the small room: You can't sense facial expressions or body language, or that the detainee's arms and legs are shackled.

[TheTimes-4] Naomi Wolf (2009-07-25). "Guantánamo Bay: the inside story". The Times. Archived from the original on 2010-01-10. here was a final stop: another trailer inside the same area as Camp Delta, where the Combat Status Review Board takes place. There were security cameras in the corners of the room covered with towels for, we were told, "classification reasons". There Captain Dan Bauer, another handsome, dark-haired, pleasant man, explained the combat status review tribunal (CSRT) process. Twenty serious-looking high-ranking military men sat to our right watching his presentation to us. In the room was his desk: and two chairs facing it. I turned on my little Flip camera and started recording. Captain Bauer claimed in his talk that witnesses were brought in from outside"whenever reasonable". I looked at the base of both chairs. Both chairs had shackles. The process had been "formed", Captain Bauer explained, "to afford the detainees the opportunity to attend and provide witness statements that were relevant and readily available on behalf of their own defence". The system, he repeated several times, sorts them into those who are "enemy combatants" and those who are "no longer enemy combatants".

[Afps2004-08-28-5] Kathleen T. Rhem (August 29, 2004). "Reporters Offered Look Inside Combatant Status Review Tribunals". American Forces Press Service. Archived from the original on 2010-01-10. Retrieved 2008-03-01. Following is a description of an actual hearing as observed by a reporter visiting Guantanamo. The tribunal described here happened on Aug. 25 and was the 36th that has occurred. The detainee was already in the room when the panel members entered. He showed little emotion and made few movements. The man had a long, dark beard, close- cropped hair and wore a black crocheted skullcap. He wore a bright orange short-sleeved shirt and pants that resembled hospital scrubs. He was handcuffed and wore leg irons. The leg manacles were secured to a ring in the floor with a padlock. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

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