Detainee lawyers find microphones

MIAMI — Microphones were found in a room where a Saudi prisoner met with his lawyers at the Guantanamo Bay detention center, U.S. officials said in recently filed court documents that shed light on an incident that has halted legal proceedings in a high-profile terrorism case.

The microphones were found in August 2017 during an inspection of the room by defense lawyers for Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri.

That set off a chain of events that eventually led senior members of al-Nashiri’s defense team to withdraw from the case, prompting the military judge last month to suspend legal proceedings against the Saudi, who is charged in the 2000 attack on the USS Cole.

In their appeal of that decision, prosecutors disclosed the discovery of the microphones. The court filings, which have not yet been released, were first reported Wednesday by The Miami Herald and later obtained by The Associated Press.

Prosecutors described the devices as “disconnected, legacy microphones” that were not connected to any audio or recording system and were never used during meetings that al-Nashiri had with his lawyers.

But Richard Kammen, a civilian attorney who represented the prisoner, said the prosecution’s description does not adequately describe the incident that compelled him and two other lawyers to withdraw from the case at the direction of an expert in legal ethics. They are forbidden from providing their version, however, because the government says the information is classified.

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