8/20 Motions Session #6: Tummy Troubles v. JTF Issues v. Voluntary Waivers

The commission is again called to order.

Up comes James Harrington, who tells the court that his client, Ramzi Binal Shibh, is a bit sick, having ingested a less than agreeable lunch of GTMO chow.  He wishes then to depart immediately for the detention center and to forgo participation in the afternoon’s argument.  When queried by the court, Binal Shibh says he “cannot stay here,” and further describes the poor food quality as a “daily problem.”  He’s the victim of psychological torture, he says---him and his other “brothers,” presumably his fellow detainees.  The accused has sought to raise his mistreatment with SJA officials, he says, but been rebuffed.

The somewhat disconnected vignette poses a problem for the court: does the accused desire to leave because he is ill, or does he, in fact, want to waive his rights as per the usual procedure?  Harrington confers further with his client, and then relays Binal Shibh’s message: it is the current conditions, overall, that have made further attendance intolerable.  In that regard, Harrington says, the voluntariness of his client’s hypothetical absence is “debatable.”  Not enough for Judge Pohl: if Binal Shibh’s problem is something within my control, that I can fix, then I will act accordingly, he says. But the situation is different though, if the accused is complaining of matters beyond my control.