The Washington Times reports that the Pentagon allowed five al Qaeda prisoners detained in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the use of laptop computers. Laptops was approved in September 2008 for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other men alleged to be September 11th conspirators.
The laptops provided did not have internet access but did include word-processing software and legal documents related to military law, so that the “pro se accused” could prepare their defense. The battery-powered laptops were kept in the detainees’ cell area and limitations to their use were imposed until this past January, when Attorney General General Eric Holder ended the laptop use policy. A specialist on detainees with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies stated that, “it is a slippery slope . . .. It is basically moving the ball inch by inch. This is one more thing that we are giving to them, and there is really no good reason that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed deserves a laptop.”
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