8/19 Motions Session #6: Bin Attash Health Matters

A longer-than-usual lunch break concluded, the commission is reconvened. The accused are present, save Al-Hawsawi (who departed as per his announced plan) and bin Attash.  The latter reportedly is nearby, but feels quite ill, according to defense counsel Cheryl Bormann.  Thus he desires to be transported back to the detention facility to rest up, despite his wish to participate in the afternoon’s session.  (According to Bormann, her client has been diagnosed with some form of gastrointestinal problem; an unidentified mass under his sternum also has been identified.)  So where does that leave our agenda? And more importantly, is an excused absence for illness the same thing as a voluntary waiver of one’s presence rights?

Prosecutor Robert Swann says he wants Judge Pohl to question bin Attash prior to his return to the camp, in order to suss out his intentions and the severity of his health condition. Bormann herself has not spoken with bin Attash; as such, Judge Pohl suggests another short recess, during which she will speak with her client and then return him to the courtroom for a conversation, on the record, with the judge. For her part, Bormann prefers that any colloquy take place in closed session, for privacy reasons.

So is Walid Bin Attash too sick to participate? We’ll know soon enough.  Recess-time.