Tag Archives: banned reporters

Civil rights groups urge Pentagon to rethink ban on Guantanamo reporters

A group of civil rights and military groups sent a letter to the Pentagon Wednesday, May 12, urging Department of Defense officials to reconsider their decision to ban four reporters from the pre-trial hearings of Guantánamo detainee Omar Khadr.

As previously reported, Carol Rosenberg of the Miami Herald, Michelle Shephard of the Toronto Star, Paul Koring of the Globe & Mail, and Steven Edwards of Canwest Newspapers, were banned from covering the hearings for revealing the name of a witness.  The Pentagon said publishing the name violated previously agreed upon rules that prevent identifying protected witnesses.

“We consider this move by the Department of Defense not only runs counter to the U.S. administration’s stated commitment to transparency in government, but will also bring the military commissions into further disrepute, internationally and within the U.S.,” said the letter from the American Civil Liberties Union, Human Rights First, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the National Institute of Military Justice.

It explains that the name of the witness has been public since 2005 when he was “the subject of a widely publicized military court-martial” and an on-the-record interview with Michelle Shephard of the Toronto Star in 2008. Shepard is one of the four banned reporters.

Banning the four reporters is “motivated by a clampdown on informed media reporting rather than the protection of classified or confidential information,” the letter said.

“Because the proceedings are based at Guantánamo and are open only to a select number of journalists, military personnel and NGO observers, continuing access to these proceedings by knowledgeable and experienced reporters – such as the four here – is even more important than it would be in an ordinary federal trial, open to the general public,” the letter said.

The complete letter on is available from the ACLU website (PDF).

Further reading: Omar Khadr’s prosecution pushes the limits of international law

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Four reporters banned from military commission proceeding at Guantanamo Bay

News outlets reported that the Pentagon banned four reporters, one American and three Canadians, from covering pre-trial hearings of Guantánamo detainee Omar Khadr.

The Washington Post blog, SpyTalk, reported that the four reports, Carol Rosenberg of the Miami Herald, Michelle Shephard of the Toronto Star, Paul Koring of the Globe & Mail, and Steven Edwards of Canwest Newspapers, were banned because they “revealed the name of a former U.S. interrogator whose name is under protective order — but is widely known.” The Pentagon said publishing the name violated previously agreed upon rules that prevent identifying protected witnesses.

The American Civil Liberties Union, in a published statement, said the  “identity of the interrogator had already been disclosed in previous news reports, including an on-the-record interview the interrogator gave to Shephard in 2008.” Politico reported that Pentagon spokesman Col. David Lapan, when asked why reporters were being punished for reporting a name already made public, said any previous stories or interviews were irrelevant.

“That doesn’t change the fact that his identity was protected in the courtroom during this hearing,” Lapan said.

Jameel Jaffer, ACLU Deputy Legal Director, said that punishing reporters for disclosing information already publicly available:

is nothing short of absurd – any gag order that covers this kind of information is not just overbroad but nonsensical. Plainly, no legitimate government interest is served by suppressing information that is already well known. We strongly urge the Defense Department to reconsider its rash, draconian and unconstitutional decision to bar these four reporters from future tribunals. If allowed to stand, this decision will discourage legitimate reporting and add yet another entry to the long list of reasons why the military commissions ought to be shut down for good.

Politico reported that Lapan told the news outlets they may appeal to the deputy assistant secretary of defense for media operations, Bryan Whitman. According to the Post, Mindy Marques, managing editor at The Miami Herald, said they would appeal.

Further reading: Washington Post SpyTalk, Politico article, ACLU statement

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