Guantanamo Military Commission
Bin al-Shibh and four other captives classified as high value detainees (Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Mustafa al-Hawsawi, Ammar al-Baluchi and Walid Bin Attash) were charged in Guantanamo military commissions in Spring 2008. The men triggered controversy when they announced that they did not want US-appointed attorneys and they planned to boycott their commissions. The military commissions, authorized by President George W. Bush, did not permit suspects to forgo legal representation, to act as their own attorneys, or to boycott their commissions. The later commissions, authorized by the Military Commissions Act of 2006, did authorized suspects to serve as their own attorneys.
The other four men did eventually agree to attend their commissions. Bin al-Shibh, however, has continued to try refuse to attend. His appointed attorneys had expressed concern that he had refused to meet with them, and since the location of camp 7, where the high value detainees are held is so secret even military attorneys are not allowed to travel there to visit him. The men are hooded when they travel from the camp to their commission, and his attorney offered to allow herself to be hooded. This offer was turned down.
The judge presiding over the commission's pre-trial motions ordered bin al-Shibh and Hawsawi to undergo mental competency hearings. On December 8, 2008, Mohammed told the judge that he and the other four indictees wished to confess and plead guilty; however, the plea would be delayed until after the competency hearings for bin al-Shibh and Hawsawi, so that all five men could make their plea together.
On May 17, 2010, Saba News reports that '"Ramzi Al-Shaibah", and four other Yemenis would face charges in the summer of 2010. Two of the other Yemenis 'Saba News' reported would face charges were: Walid Bin Atash and Abdul Rahim Al-Nasheri. Saba News did not name the fourth and fifth individuals. Lawyers of Bin al-Shibh are argue that bin al-Shibh may be unfit to stand trial and have asked that the proceedings against him and his four co-accused be stayed until his mental state is determined. They say he has been prescribed psychotropic drugs of the sort that are used to treat Schizophrenia. Bin al-Shibh claims that he is mentally fit, has denounced his lawyers, and says that he wants to represent himself before the commissions.
Read more about this topic: Ramzi Bin Al-Shibh
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