Defense Lawyers Move to Block Force-Feeding of Guantánamo Prisoner
The standoff began in June when a detainee accused of conspiring in the Sept. 11 attacks was placed in disciplinary status, away from the other prisoners, and stopped eating.
A model prison cell at the detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.Credit.Doug Mills/The New York Times
July 12, 2021, 7:57 p.m. ET
GUANTÃNAMO BAY, Cuba â One of the five men accused of conspiring in the Sept. 11 attacks is refusing to eat after being placed in isolation and has been told he could be force-fed, his lawyers said in a legal filing that asked a military court to intervene.
This article was produced in partnership with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.
The military judge overseeing the Sept. 11 case at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba delayed litigation deadlines again on Friday, postponing the start of the trial of the accused mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four accused co-conspirators until after the 20th anniversary of the attacks next year.
“The coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic has continued to worsen,” the judge, Col. Douglas K. Watkins of the Army, wrote in a two-page order that extended deadlines for another 30 days, for a total of 300 days of delay since the start of the pandemic.