As reported by Human Rights First, the U.S. Department of Defense has released a new version of the handbook which establishes the procedural rules and applicable punishments in the prosecution of “alien unprivileged enemy belligerents for violations of the law of war and other offenses” before Military Commissions in Guantanamo Bay, under the Military Commissions Act. The new Manual for Military Commissions has yet to be distributed to the judges and attorneys in Guantanamo, even as proceedings against Omar Khadr were set to begin.
According to Human Rights First, the commissions have been operating in the absence of clear guidance for months and while the new manual does provide additional rights (“such as giving defendants in capital cases the right to at least one additional counsel who is learned in applicable law relating to death penalty cases”), it retains other weaknesses:
For example, the manual continues to permit the introduction of coerced statements under certain circumstances. In addition, unlike in courts-martial or regular federal courts, it permits evidence from third parties obtained by cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment if “use of such evidence would otherwise be consistent with the interests of justice.” In addition, the manual, consistent with the 2009 Military Commissions Act, continues to permit defendants to be tried ex-post facto for conduct not considered to constitute a war crime at the time it was committed, such as material support for terrorism.
Read more on the Guantanamo detainees and military commissions on the websites of Human Rights First and the Center for Constitutional Rights.