Reply #10: Trial Witnesses Kept Secret at Gitmo

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Source: Associated Press

A U.S. military judge has ordered attorneys for a Guantanamo detainee accused of killing a U.S. soldier not to reveal the identities of trial witnesses to anybody, including their Canadian-born client, according to recently released documents.

The ruling was issued in the case of Omar Khadr, 21, which could become the first to go to trial at the Guantanamo Bay Navy base in southeast Cuba as soon as the spring.

The law authorizing the first American war-crimes tribunals since the World War II era allows the use of classified evidence, and some parts of trials are expected to take place in closed courtrooms.

But Khadr's lead attorney, Navy Lt. Cmdr. William Kuebler, protested the order against revealing witnesses' identities, saying it will make it harder to investigate their claims and force him to keep secrets from his client.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071202/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/guantanamo_witnesses_2