Pentagon Retreats From Transparency At Guantanamo Bay, Builds New Secretive Room ~ January 16, 2022

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GUANTANAMO BAY, CUBA - OCTOBER 23: (EDITORS NOTE: Image has been reviewed by the U.S. Military prior to transmission.) A sign welcomes military personnel to the U.S. Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay, also known as "Gitmo" on October 23, 2016 at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The U.S. military's Joint Task Force Guantanamo is holding 60 detainees at the U.S. prison, located on the naval base, down from a previous total of 780. In 2008 President Obama issued an executive order to close the prison, which has failed because of political opposition in the U.S. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images) — GUANTANAMO BAY, CUBA – OCTOBER 23: (EDITORS NOTE: Image has been reviewed by the U.S. Military prior to transmission.) A sign welcomes military personnel to the U.S. Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay, also known as “Gitmo” on October 23, 2016 at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

The new courtroom is yet another example of a lack of transparency at Guantanamo Bay. In recent years, photography has been barred in areas once commonly shown to visitors, and places like empty wartime prison facilities are inaccessible to journalists, according to the NYT.

Guantanamo Bay already has an existing courtroom that opened in 2008. Members of the public can watch proceedings live at this chamber, though they also hear audio on a 40-second delay. This gives time for those in charge to mute comments deemed classified, the NYT noted.

Bigger cases, like the five men accused of planning the September 11, 2001 attacks, will be held in the 2008 courtroom. Despite being accessible by Guantanamo Bay standards, there have been complaints about this court’s secrecy as well. A lawyer representing Encep Nurjaman, the lead defendant charged in two Indonesian terrorist bombings, has made complaints regarding how restrictive this court is.

“I’ve observed trials in Mongolia that were more transparent than this,” the lawyer James R. Hodes said according to the NYT.

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