Philip Sundel

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Philip Sundel is a military officer and lawyer, who served a defense counsel for Guantanamo Bay detainee Ali Hamza Ahmed Sulayman al Bahlul.^[1]

Legal Times reports:

"No one, not even those directly involved in the process, knows just what to expect. Asked what this week's hearings will bring, one of the defense lawyers, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Philip Sundel, summed it up by saying, 'It beats the hell out of me.'^[1]"

Legal Times further quoted Sundell:

"It's now almost three years after military commissions were created, almost seven months after charges were brought against my client, two months since the case was referred to trial, and the Defense Department is still establishing a process,' Sundel says. 'You cannot possibly defend a process as fair when it's being defined as trials are occurring.'^[1]"

Sundel told CBS News: "There's virtually no chance he can get a fair trial^[2]"

Sundel described difficulty getting a security clearance for a translator, so he could talk to his client.^[3]^[4] Consequently, six months after al Bahlul had been charged, he still had not had an opportunity to discuss his case with him, when he and other defense attorneys challenged the lack of fundamental justice of the commissions.