Gitanjali S. Gutierrez

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Gitanjali S. Gutierrez is the lawyer for the defendant Mohammad al-Qahtani, who is held at Camp Delta in Guantanamo Bay by the United States Military.[1] Gitanjali Gutierrez is an attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights, a New York-based nonprofit organization.

The Toronto Star quoted Gutierrez, in a February 4, 2007 article, states that Gutierrez was the first lawyer to visit a Guantanamo captive.[2] The article quotes Guiterrez about the emotional state of her clients, since her first visits to the camp:

  • "They were just shell-shocked. They were getting news for the first time from outside."
  • "It has been a downhill battle since ... and they now just struggle to maintain hope."
  • "This place isn't just illegal, it's immoral, and I don't think the U.S. can afford to keep it open."

Gutierrez is one of the plaintiffs in CCR v. Bush, filed on July 9, 2007.[3] Four other individuals filed this suit. In addition to President Bush, the other defendants were, Keith B. Alexander Director of the National Security Agency; Michael D. Maples, Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency; Porter J. Goss, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency; Michael Chertoff, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security; Robert S. Mueller III, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; and John D. Negroponte, Director of National Intelligence. Gutierrz and her colleagues were suing the US government to object to its interception of their mail, email and phone calls.

On October 15, 2007 Gutierrez wrote about her upcoming first meeting with Majid Khan.[4] Khan, a Pakistani who was a legal resident of the USA, who completed his high school and University education in Maryland, is the first of the "high value detainees" to meet with a lawyer. Majid Khan, and thirteen other captives, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Abu Zubaydah, were transferred from CIA custody, to military custody in Guantanamo, on September 6, 2006. The high value detainees had been clandestinely held in the CIA's black sites.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Adam Zagorin. "Exclusive: '20th Hijacker' Claims That Torture Made Him Lie", Time (magazine), March 3, 2006. Retrieved on 2007-01-05. 
  2. ^ Michelle Shephard. "The view from Guantanamo Bay", Toronto Star, February 4, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-01-05. 
  3. ^ "Center for Constitutional Rights v. George W. Bush -- Case No. 06-cv-313", United States Department of Justice, July 9, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-10-17. 
  4. ^ Gitanjali S. Gutierrez. "Going to See a Ghost: Majid Khan and the Abuses of the 'War on Terror'", Washington Post, Monday, October 15, 2007, p. A15. Retrieved on 2007-10-16. 
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