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Gitmo Drives Detainees Crazy: Lawyers

As trials draw near, prisoners' mental health at issue

By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff

Posted Apr 26, 2008 10:48 AM CDT
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(Newser) – Osama bin Laden's driver can't help his lawyers prepare his defense because he's been driven mad by years of isolation at Guantanamo Bay, his lawyers say. The conditions "boil his mind" and prevent a fair trial, they say, an argument that will become increasingly common as lawyers begin preparing the first war crimes trials for Guantanamo detainees, the New York Times reports.

“The issue of mistreatment of prisoners, the miserable lives they live in these cells, will come up in every case,” says one lawyer in one of 80 upcoming trials. But Guantanamo authorities say their prisoners are mentally healthier than most in the US, and that terrorists are manipulating the lawyers. “We are holding the right people, in the right place, for the right reasons, and doing it the right way,” said a spokeswoman.

A Guantanamo guard watches over detainees, not pictured, in the exercise area at Camp 5 maximum-security facility in this Oct. 9, 2007 file photo at Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base, Cuba.
A Guantanamo guard watches over detainees, not pictured, in the exercise area at Camp 5 maximum-security facility in this Oct. 9, 2007 file photo at Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base, Cuba.   (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)
In this photo released by the Department of Defense, a commander gives a tour of a detainee recreation area at Camp Six, Joint Task Force Guantanamo, Cuba, January 13, 2008.
In this photo released by the Department of Defense, a commander gives a tour of a detainee recreation area at Camp Six, Joint Task Force Guantanamo, Cuba, January 13, 2008.   (AP Photo/Department of Defense, Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class, Chad J. McNeeley)
In this photo released by the Department of Defense, a commandergives a tour of a detainee holding cell at Camp Six, Joint Task Force Guantanamo, Cuba, January 13, 2008.
In this photo released by the Department of Defense, a commandergives a tour of a detainee holding cell at Camp Six, Joint Task Force Guantanamo, Cuba, January 13, 2008.   (AP Photo/Department of Defense, Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class, Chad J. McNeeley)
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War on Terror • mental health • Guantanamo Bay • Guantanamo prisoners • terror suspects • terror trial

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