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The army allowed two detainees to meet with lawyers over the weekend, even as the number of cases filed rose to a third of the population.
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By Carol Rosenberg
The number of covid cases among terror suspects at the Guantanamo Bay prison has risen, according to other people familiar with its operations. A U. S. official said Sunday that more than a third of the 35 wartime detainees had the coronavirus.
Only two of the men who showed they had the virus on Friday have been identified. Both are CIA alumni. Prisoners who have never been charged.
One of the Palestinian prisoners known as Abu Zubaydah, 51, who tested positive for the virus on Wednesday, led the army to cancel all legal gatherings. On Friday, a Somali man, Guled Hassan Duran, 48, also tested positive.
Both were held in the maximum-security criminal construction at Camp Five that houses men detained in the CIA’s criminal network, known as the Black Sites, and were taken to Cuba’s naval base in 2006 or 2007.
The remaining 10 or more are believed to be among 20 prisoners in the general population of adjacent Camp 6, a medium-security construction where inmates share a common domain for meals, showers, prayer and recreation. All men detained there have been approved for repatriation or resettlement in some other country, if U. S. diplomats are allowed to repatriate or resettle in some other country. U. S. citizens can safely conclude relocation agreements. Duran is also eligible for resettlement elsewhere, as Somalia is too volatile for repatriation.
None of the other people who provided the numbers and data on the outbreak agreed to be known because of the classified nature of Camp Five and a Trump-era move toward secrecy about criminal operations.
The Pentagon on Sunday declined to verify that the toll had risen to “more than a dozen” criminals. The spokesmen also did not say how many of the 1,000 men and women, U. S. foot soldiers and civilians, who paint on criminals had contracted the virus.
Residents of the 6,000 base had noticed an increase in previous cases this month when contractors, Navy families, criminals and others returned to base on flights from Jacksonville, Florida, after the holidays.
On Saturday, after Wednesday, Thursday and Friday meetings were canceled, most of the defense attorneys who had come to the base to consult with the constituent prisoners left back and forth in Washington, D. C. , some without ever meeting with their clients.
Then, on Saturday and Sunday, according to legal staff, defense lawyers were allowed to meet with two of the men charged in the case of the September 11 attacks, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and Ramzi bin al-Shibh, because it had been established through tracking and contact evidence. who had been exposed to the virus in recent days.
On Friday, the Army lawyer who heads the defense organization of the Pentagon war tribunal, Brig. Gen. Jackie L. Thompson Jr. , wrote to frustrated members that he trusted the criminal commander, Brig. Gen. Scott W. Hiipakka, “implemented protocols to ensure the protection of our consumers and guards. “He asked defense attorneys to “seek some serenity for yourselves,” according to members who won the message.
But several lawyers, who had been excluded from the meetings last week, called the report inadequate and asked to be briefed in particular on prisoners who had the coronavirus and the measures taken to treat them.
Pentagon officials also declined Sunday to say whether any of the prisoners with health problems had won the antiviral drug Paxlovid, or describe the care the Navy workers’ medical corps provided at the prison.
The Pentagon said late Sunday that Southern Command, its Miami outpost that oversees criminal operations, had “not requested further medical support. “our custody. “
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