GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, CUBA — Terrorist suspect Abd al Hadi al-Iraqi said in court Wednesday that he has “a very disturbed relationship” with his military lawyers and does not want the Pentagon-assigned team to represent him at the pretrial hearing.
“Regrettably we’re in a little bit of a limbo,” said military judge, Navy Capt. J.K. Waits declaring an indefinite recess.
Pretrial hearings for the alleged senior al-Qaida commander were scheduled to commence Monday, but were postponed because prosecutors’ introduced new evidence that showed a conflict of interest with one of the lawyers, Marine Lt. Col. Sean Gleason, who is on Hadi’s defense team.
During the hearing, Hadi told the military judge, Navy Capt. J.K. Waits, that he was OK with Marine Lt. Col. Tom Jasper representing him.
Less than an hour later, things changed.
“I don’t want them to represent me at this time,” Hadi told Waits, after lengthy arguments regarding the possible conflict of interest.
Gleason, who was not present Wednesday, was reassigned in 2013 to represent another Guantanamo prisoner, Mustafa al Hawsawi, one of five September 11 defendants.
The defense claimed that information provided by prosecutors shows that Gleason has some documents regarding 2007 conversations between the two detainees in Guantanamo Bay that contained statements harmful to Hadi.
Jasper said Gleason was “not properly or legally released.”
Hadi who was dressed in traditional white garb, said to the military judge in Arabic, through an interpreter, “Gleason has lots of information concerning me, and I don’t know in the future whether he’ll use it for me or against me.”
The 10-page document outlining the potential conflict of interest was handed to defense lawyers Sunday. But Jasper argued that getting two days to analyze and review the information was not enough time, especially because the prosecution had those details for a number of years.
In April 2012, the prosecution turned over a list of 25 people who could present possible conflicts of interest. The defense claims Hawsawi was never on the list.
“The problem is that we are flying by the seat of our pants trying to figure out our ethical obligation regarding ethical representation,” lead Pentagon defense attorney
Jasper, told the military judge.
In September, Jasper replaced Hadi’s 2014 arraignment lawyer Army Reserve Col. Chris Callen, who returned to civilian life. Air Force Maj. Ben Stirk, a deputy defense counsel, has been the only defense lawyer to appear at all five of Hadi’s hearings.
Waits directed the defense and prosecution to arrange a meeting with Gleason. The hearing will remain on hold until those meetings take place.
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