Request for closed Gitmo hearing rejected

WASHINGTON (AP) - A federal judge last Thursday rejected a request by the Obama administration to close a hearing into the force-feeding of a Guantanamo Bay prisoner who has gone on a hunger strike. The Obama administration has sought to keep the hearing closed on grounds that much of the information about the man is classified. U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler rejected the government's motion to close the hearing in its entirety. However, the judge is not opening the hearing completely. The hearing can be held in open and closed sessions to accommodate the government's concerns, Kessler wrote. The presumption of openness and the absence of any grounds that justify overcoming that presumption compel denial of the government's request, Kessler wrote. Lawyers for Abu Wa'el Dhiab plan to introduce testimony by three doctors regarding his physical and mental health and the use of force-feeding at a hearing scheduled to begin today. Dhiab, a Syrian prisoner, has been held without charge at the Navy-run prison for terrorist suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since August 2002. The military forcibly removes Dhiab from his cell and straps him on a restraining chair where he is force-fed. Dhiab is challenging the procedures as abusive. Kessler wrote that Dhiab's case has received a good deal of publicity and that with such a long-standing and ongoing public interest at stake, "it would be particularly egregious to bar the public from observing the credibility of live witnesses, the substance of their testimony, whether proper procedures are being followed and whether all participants are being treated fairly." The government has argued that having parts of the hearing open and parts closed is rife with the risk of slip-ups. Kessler said her court has dealt carefully in the past with classified information without problems. Dhiab wants the federal court to stop forcibly removing him from his cell and from placing him in a restraining chair for the purpose of transporting him to and from forced-feeding sessions. Published: Mon, Oct 06, 2014