Secretly tortured: Guantanamo Bay ruling.

• Author: Tuccille, J.D.
• Position: Citings - Brief article

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TWELVE YEARS after 9/11, pretrial hearings began at Guantanamo Bay for five defendants accused of playing a role in the attacks. The defendants, who include Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, could face the death penalty if convicted of taking part in that bloody day.

Justice delayed has already cast a shadow over the proceedings. But a military judge's order forbidding defendants from discussing their torture at the hands of the CIA before they were charged may effectively compromise the trials no matter the outcome.

A confidential but subsequently leaked International Committee of the Red Cross report, written in 2007, found that 14 "high-value" prisoners had been mistreated by the CIA while in its custody. The report said the detainees' experiences "amounted to participation in torture and/or cruel inhuman or degrading treatment." The Red Cross list of torture victims...