'High Value' Hearings Begin at Guantánamo Bay

The US opened military hearings at Guantánamo Bay today into the 14 suspects described as "high value", allegedly the most dangerous of all the inmates with direct links to al-Qaida.

Journalists were barred from the hearings for the first time since detainees began arriving at the US base in Cuba in 2001.

The 14 include Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, who was arrested in Pakistan in 2003. Some of the 14 were transferred from secret CIA prisons worldwide.

The Pentagon says the reporting ban is because of the potentially sensitive nature of the evidence. But human rights activists say the real reason is the Pentagon does not want to be embarrassed by revelations of the secret CIA prisons and torture suspects were subjected to.

A Pentagon spokesman said today that transcripts of the evidence would be made available to the press but probably not until the end of next week because of the time involved in translation and typing.

The Pentagon will edit the transcripts to remove anything it regards as damaging.

The hearings are being conducted by a three-person tribunal: a colonel who will be the presiding officer, a representative for the accused, and a recorder.

The hearings are to establish whether the 14 are to be designated as "enemy combatants", in which case they will face military tribunals.