US says Al Qaeda magazine got into Guantanamo cell

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US says Al Qaeda magazine got into Guantanamo cell

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Copy of a magazine published by Al Qaeda made its way to a terror suspect at Guantanamo Bay prison.

19 January,2012 04:25 am

A copy of a magazine published by an arm of Al Qaeda made its way to a terror suspect at the Guantanamo Bay prison, leading to an inspection of cells and a contentious new policy requiring special review teams to examine correspondence between prisoners and attorneys, US prosecutors said Wednesday.Navy Cmdr. Andrea Lockhart told a military judge during a pretrial hearing that a copy of Inspire magazine got into a cell.She provided no details on who received the magazine or how. Yemens Al Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula launched the online, English-language magazine in 2010. An early issue contained tips to would-be militants about how to kill US citizens.Lockhart is part of the US team prosecuting the case against Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, a Saudi national charged with orchestrating the deadly attack on the USS Cole in 2000 that killed 17 sailors. Al-Nashiri, 47, is considered one of the most senior Al Qaeda leaders. He has been held at the US Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since 2006 after spending several years held by the CIA in a series of secret prisons.The Associated Press and other news organizations viewed the proceedings at Guantanamo Bay on a closed circuit telecast shown in a small theater at Fort Meade, Maryland, a military base.The dispute over examining mail and attorney-client privilege reflects the untested nature of this latest attempt to resume the military tribunals at Guantanamo. The US is preparing to prosecute five other prisoners accused in the Sept. 11 attacks, yet defense lawyers and government prosecutors are still fighting to establish basic legal ground rules.The military commission system has been revised by the Obama administration and Congress, which has refused to allow the administration to move prisoners from the base in Cuba. The trial system is sharply criticized by civil and human rights groups and defense lawyers who say the procedures favor the prosecution. Rick Kammen, a civilian attorney for al-Nashiri, called the military commissions a second-class system of justice.