9/11 Suspects Denied Internet Access for Defense Prep

A judge has denied Internet access to five suspects being held at Guantanamo Bay for their involvement in the Sept. 11 attacks, reports the Miami Herald. Three of the five are their own attorneys and requested access to help prepare their defense. The government was ordered to provide enough battery power to allow the suspects to operate their prison laptops 12 hours a day.

The judge denied additional requests for PowerPoint software, printers and scanners. ''Reasonable access does not equate to a right or an entitlement to be placed on the same footing as a technologically state-of-the-art law office,'' the judge wrote. Suspects using legal counsel will be allowed access to attorneys' downloaded files of Internet reports and information, provided it passes government censors.
(More al-Qaeda stories.)