老澳门开奖结果

I鈥檓 in Guant谩namo today, expecting to argue the 老澳门开奖结果鈥檚 constitutional challenge to the censorship of torture in the military commissions this afternoon or tomorrow.

The Guant谩namo military commissions were created in part to hide the government鈥檚 illegal torture program while permitting the use of information obtained through torture. Because of improvements in 2009 in the law governing the commissions, it鈥檚 harder (though not impossible) for coerced evidence to be used in the proceedings. But the government still wants to hide from the public what it did to prisoners in CIA and military custody.

We filed our challenge in May, in response to the government鈥檚 request that the military judge enter a 鈥減rotective order鈥� that would prevent the public from hearing any testimony by the 9/11 defendants about their rendition, torture, and detention in U.S. custody. According to the government, any statements by the defendants鈥� concerning their 鈥渆xposure鈥� to the CIA鈥檚 detention and interrogation program are classified because they concern intelligence 鈥渟ources, methods and activities鈥� of the U.S. In its most recent filing, the government has effectively claimed that it owns and controls the defendants鈥� memories, 鈥渢houghts and experiences鈥� of government torture. These chillingly Orwellian claims are legally untenable and morally abhorrent.

Our nation has a centuries-long tradition, guaranteed by the First Amendment, of open trials in which the public has access to the full truth. That right can only be restricted if the government shows 鈥� and the military judge finds 鈥� that public testimony would result in harm to a compelling government interest. The government has no legitimate interest, let alone a compelling one, in preventing the public from hearing testimony about an illegal program that the president of the United States has shut down, and the details of which are already widely known because of and .

We have asked the military judge to reject the government鈥檚 censorship regime, and to deny its related request for a 40-second delay in the audio feed of the commission proceedings. That delay allows a government censor to cut off the sound so that the public, press, and trial observers do not hear defendants鈥� testimony about their own torture and detention. A group of 14 press organizations will also be arguing today for the media鈥檚 right to access the commission's proceedings.

As our motion says,

The eyes of the world are on this Military Commission, and the public has a substantial interest in and concern about the fairness and transparency of these proceedings. This Commission should reject鈥揳nd not become complicit with鈥搕he government鈥檚 improper proposals to suppress the defendants鈥� personal accounts of government misconduct.

If the government succeeds in imposing its censorship regime and keeping the defendants鈥� torture testimony secret from the public, the commissions will certainly not be seen as legitimate.

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