Terror victims can attend tribunals, DoD says - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Terror victims can attend tribunals, DoD says

The Pentagon is opening the prosecution of suspected enemy combatants jailed at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to victims of terror attacks and their family members.

The visits, which will be limited to 10 observers at any given time due to limited visitor housing at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, could begin as early as next month, said Cmdr. J.D. Gordon, a Pentagon spokesman.

It will mark the first time that the tribunals have been opened to the public other than members of the media, nongovernmental organizations and military family members, he said.

“Terror attacks” includes the Sept. 11, 2001 strikes on the U.S., the October 2000 attack on the USS Cole off Yemen and the August 1998 attacks on two U.S. embassies in east Africa. At least seven of the 255 suspected enemy combatants currently held at Guantanamo Bay are accused of involvement in those attacks, Gordon said.

The next proceeding involving one of those suspected combatants, Gordon said, will be a Dec. 8 pretrial hearing for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, named by the 9/11 Commission as the “principle architect of the 9/11 attacks.”

Attendees will be chosen through the use of random number generation software, which will select five people at a time to attend hearings, each of whom can be accompanied by one family member, the Pentagon said.

Details on financial arrangements and the length of each stay were not immediately available.

The Pentagon also announced that it will establish closed-circuit TV sites in the U.S. for victims and family members of those who lost loved ones in the attacks to watch future hearings at Guantanamo Bay. Gordon said this arrangement should be in place in time for the Khalid Sheikh Mohammed hearing.

Those interested in attending one of the hearings should contact the Office of Military Commissions through their victims’ family group, Gordon said.

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