A defense attorney representing a Guantánamo prisoner has requested the admittance of classified documents published by WikiLeaks as evidence at his client’s military trial. The documents, known as “detainee assessments,” were released to the media on April 24. The federal government, however, is fighting this request on two grounds.

 

Department of Justice lawyers argue that the documents, although available for viewing by the public, still should be considered classified materials because the government has not formally changed their status. Secondly, the government claims it cannot confirm the authenticity of any particular WikiLeaks document, which should disqualify their use at trial.

 

Steven Aftergood, publisher of the Secrecy News blog, writes that this argument by the government appears weak, given that officials have not identified a single WikiLeaks document “among the many thousands released … that is not genuine or is not what it appears to be.”

 

“In the absence of even a single such case of falsification, the documents may be understood to be presumptively authentic even if government officials will not deign to say so,” Aftergood adds.

 

The case in question involves Saifullah Paracha, a 63-year-old Pakistani citizen who was arrested in Thailand on July 8, 2003, and has been in U.S. custody ever since. He had previously lived in the United States and, along with a Jewish-American partner, ran a clothing export business that supplied Kmart and other stores. In 2005, his son, Uzair Paracha, was convicted of providing support to al-Qaeda and was subsequently sentenced to 30 years in federal prison.

-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky

 

Govt Opposes Attorneys’ Free Use of WikiLeaks Documents (by Steven Aftergood, Secrecy News)

Saifullah Paracha v. Barack H. Obama (U.S. District Court, District of Columbia) (pdf)

Satfullah Paracha Files (WikiLeaks) (pdf)