Washington, May 13: Human rights groups have deplored the US Defense Department for banning four reporters from covering military commission proceedings at Guantanamo prison.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and several other rights groups said the ban contradicted Obama Administration’s pledge of greater transparency, in a letter sent to the Pentagon on Wednesday.
The ban was proposed after four journalists “violated ground rules” and published the name of a former Army interrogator who was a witness in the pre-trial hearings of Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr.
The decision was taken even though the identity of the witness had already been disclosed in previous news reports.
Khadr is being prosecuted for allegedly killing an American soldier during a firefight in Afghanistan when he was only 15 years old. His lawyers insist that he was forced to admit to the killing through various interrogation and torture tactics on the young Afghan-born Canadian citizen.
In the letter, the ACLU, Human Rights First, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and National Institute of Military Justice have urged US authorities to lift the ban.
“This move by the Department of Defense not only runs counter to the US administration’s stated commitment to transparency in government, but will also bring the military commissions into further disrepute, internationally and within the United States,” the human rights groups argued.
——-Agencies