CIA Suspects Granted Access to Lawyers

'High value' detainees include 911 'mastermind'

By Peter Fearon, Newser Staff

Posted Sep 28, 2007 3:51 AM CDT

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CIA Suspects Granted Access to Lawyers — A detainee shields his face as he peers out through the so-called "bean hole" which is used to pass food and other items into cells, within the detention compound at Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base, Cuba, in this Dec. 4, 2006 file photo, reviewed by a U.S. Dept of Defense official. (AP Photo/Brennan... (Associated Press)

US officials have granted 14 "high-value" al-Qaeda suspects, transferred to Guantanamo Bay after years in secret CIA prisons, access to lawyers to represent them at future military trials. The suspects include Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the 911 attacks, and others once close to Osama bin Laden, reports the Washington Post.

The suspects have been given forms to apply for legal representation. "It was the intent all along that they would have a right to counsel," said an official. Contact with lawyers would be the first time the suspects have seen anyone other than their captors or members of the Red Cross since they were detained. (More Guantanamo Bay stories.)

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