Torture Censorship Challenged at Guantanamo

You say the government finds it awkward?

NEW YORK – Asserting the public's First Amendment right to open trials, the American Civil Liberties Union sought to reverse the parts of a Guantánamo military judge's order granting the government's request to censor any testimony from the 9/11 defendants relating to their torture and other abuse in U.S. custody. The ACLU filed a petition with the U.S. Court of Military Commissions Review late yesterday, and it was made public this afternoon after undergoing a security review by the government.

In December, Military Judge Col. James Pohl issued a protective order containing provisions that categorically censored the defendants' testimony concerning their personal experiences and memories of CIA "enhanced interrogation techniques," rendition, and detention on the grounds that it was classified. The protective order also upheld the continued use of a 40-second delay audio feed of the proceedings.