NAVAL BASE GUANTANAMO BAY, 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 his pretrial hearing.
“Regrettably we’re in a little bit of a limbo,” the military judge, Navy Capt. J.K. Waits, said in 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 on Hadi’s defense team, Marine Lt. Col. Sean Gleason.
During the hearing, Hadi told Waits that he was fine with having Marine Lt. Col. Tom Jasper representing him.
Less than an hour later, things changed when Hadi objected to the makeup of his defense team 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 9/11 defendants.
The defense claimed that information provided by prosecutors shows that Gleason has some documents regarding 2007 conversations between Hadi and al Hawsawi at Guantanamo Bay that contained statements harmful to Hadi.
Jasper noted that Hadi never agreed to Gleason’s reassignment.
Speaking to the military judge in Arabic through an interpreter, Hadi, who was dressed in traditional white Muslim garb, said, “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 new evidence includes a 10-page document that was handed to defense lawyers Sunday. Jasper argued that having just two days to analyze and review the information was not enough time, especially considering that the prosecution has had those details in hand for a number of years.
In April 2012, the prosecution turned over a list of 25 people who could present possible conflicts of interest in Hadi’s trial. 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,” Jasper, Hadi’s lead defense attorney, told Waits.
In September, Jasper replaced the lawyer who represented Hadi during his 2014 arraignment, 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. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Vaughn Spencer told Waits that Gleason is an active-duty Marine and could be brought to Guantanamo “as quickly as you direct us.”
The commissions will remain on hold until those meetings take place.
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