Fourteen so-called "high value" terrorism suspects at the military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, have been offered the right to ask for attorneys, the Defense Department said Friday.
"Like all other detainees at Guantánamo, the high-value detainees have the opportunity to contest" their status as "enemy combatants," said Commander J. D. Gordon, a Defense Department spokesman.
The prisoners include Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks. Neither he nor the others had access to lawyers while they were being held in secret CIA prisons for various lengths of time, nor since they were transferred from CIA custody to Guantánamo a year ago.
Each had what the government called personal representatives when their cases were brought before review boards in a series of hearings since March to determine if they could be classified as enemy combatants. Each was later given that classification, which the Bush administration says allowed it to hold them indefinitely and prosecute them at military tribunals.
When the Pentagon first opened the prison at Guantánamo Bay in 2002, terrorism suspects were held there incommunicado. Their names were not released and they were not allowed attorneys. But a series of court challenges has forced the Pentagon to change rules, including allowing them to have lawyers, starting two years ago.
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