NEW YORK -- March 6 - Today attorneys representing Guantánamo detainees at the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) heralded newly released hearing transcripts as further evidence of the government's failure to provide due process to detainees or accurate information to the public. CCR, which oversees 450 pro-bono attorneys representing the detainees, has been calling for fair hearings and transparency for years.

"The transcripts back up what we've said all along - most of these detainees are not affiliated in any way with Al Qaeda, they have not engaged in terrorist activities and the government does not have a case against them that can stand up in a real court," said CCR Deputy Legal Director Barbara Olshansky. In addition to the hearing transcripts, a recent statistical analysis of Pentagon records by professors at Seton Hall Law School found that 92% of Guantánamo detainees were not characterized as Al Qaeda fighters. (A PDF of the study is available at http://www.ccr-ny.org/v2/reports/report.asp?ObjID=JbXOo0pVIg&Content=708.)

Gitanjali S. Gutierrez, a CCR attorney who is returning to Guantánamo this week to visit her clients, explained why the Pentagon fought to avoid releasing the transcripts. "Now we know why the Pentagon tried to hide these transcripts for years: they reveal the hearings are a sham. The government falsely claimed the secrecy was to protect the detainees, but they never even asked the detainees if they wanted the information disclosed."

CCR Legal Director Bill Goodman said the transcripts show how the hearings violate the United States' legal principles: "Many of these hearings barely had a pretense of due process. These are hearings that did not even include the basic information required to hold a prisoner in a U.S. court, which is probably why the government has chosen to detain these people indefinitely without charges or trial."

The Pentagon fought to avoid releasing the transcripts for years, only making this release under orders from U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff. The ruling was considered a major blow to the Pentagon's attempts to maintain total secrecy over the detainment process. According to recent estimates, the government is currently detaining about 500 prisoners at the Guantánamo Bay prison camp. CCR won the Supreme Court case establishing the detainees' right to challenge their detention in U.S. court (Rasul v. Bush).

The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) is a non-profit legal and educational organization dedicated to protecting and advancing the rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Founded in 1966 by attorneys who represented civil rights demonstrators in the South, CCR is committed to the creative use of law as a positive force for social change.

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