Interpreter’s alleged link to CIA halts Guantanamo case

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba – An attempt to get the Sept. 11 terror case moving again came to an abrupt end Monday as at least two of five defendants identified a new courtroom interpreter as someone they encountered while held in secret CIA custody before being taken to the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for a long-stalled military trial.

A hearing in the high-security courtroom had just begun when defendant Ramzi Binalshibh told the judge that he recognized the male interpreter sitting next to him at the defense table from his time in the so-called “black sites” overseas, where prisoners were subjected to treatment widely regarded as torture.

“I cannot trust him because he was working at the black site with the CIA and we know him from there,” said Binalshibh, a 42-year-old from Yemen who was captured in Pakistan in 2002, speaking in English.

Interpreters are typically government contractors with security clearances. Prosecutors appeared caught off guard by Binalshibh’s allegation and said they would look into it.

At least one other defendant said he recognized the interpreter, but there was no immediate way to confirm it. The mere possibility led the defense to suggest he could have been planted by the government as part of broader effort to monitor their activities.

Later, James Harrington, the lead civilian attorney for Binalshibh, said four of the five defendants are “adamant” in their belief that the interpreter worked at the black site, and that the fifth is unsure.

Now, they are trying to confirm the man’s background and determine how he could have gotten the position without the apparent knowledge of the prosecution.

“If it was something deliberate, it would have to have been done by some sort of security agency. If it was coincidence or accident then it should have been disclosed,” he said. “This is something that has to be explored.”

The interpreter recently began working for the Binalshibh team, replacing one who was forced to resign because he lost his security clearance after being questioned by the FBI, in an investigation whose nature and scope has not been publicly disclosed.

Fears that the government is monitoring the defense have repeatedly come up in the case, prompted by incidents such as the discovery of listening devices disguised as smoke detectors in attorney-client meeting rooms. They emerged again last April when Harrington revealed that members of his support staff had been questioned by the FBI.