It's lunchtime at GTMO, the U.S. Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay. We've spent the morning in courtroom 2, a relatively new facility built for the military commissions here. We have been watching pre-trial motions in the matter of Omar Khadr being debated.
We resume in about 40 minutes.
In court, journalists, human rights observers, and others sit at the rear of the spacious courtroom, behind a thick pane of glass. This enables court officer to silence the audio if some sensitive information is being discussed.
The courtroom is large – about the size of a basketball court.
The walls are white, the carpet is grey and the desks are made our of red cherry wood with black vinyl or leather tops. There are five rows of long tables on each side of the aisle down the middle of the court. Each table has four black chairs.
As the judge, army Col. Patrick Parrish, looks down the courtroom, he sees Khadr in the front row sitting on his extreme right. Khadr is wearing a white jump suit with black shoes. Khadr is a big 21-year-old, standing six-feet-tall at least. He has short neatly cropped black hair and full neat black beard. He has not said anything today. He sits mostly leaned forward with his elbows on the table in front of him paying close attention to the proceedings. From time to time he will confer with his Edmonton-based lawyer Dennis Edney who is sitting in the seat next to him. Next to Edney is Rebecca Snyder, one of the Khadr's Pentagon-appointed lawyers, and, next to her, is Lt. Cmdr William Kuebler, the lead Pentagon-lawyer who did most of the talking today.
Across the aisle from Kuebler today is the lead prosecutor, marine Major Jeff Goharing. Next to him is army Captain Keith Petty. Next to him today was a Department of Justice lawyer Jordan Goldstein.
Several uniformed personnel — some army, some navy, some coast guard — were also in the courtroom. By my count, including all those I've mentioned, there were 19 in the courtroom itself and about a dozen in the room with journalists.
For journalists getting into the court, there is a strict security protocol. We went through three checkpoints to get into the courtroom. No electronic devices are permitted. The U.S. government has sophisticated tools to ensure devices are not coming into court. In fact, as we were going through the second checkpoint — about 10 metres from the entrance to the court building, a security officer came out and yelled “Cell phone!”, indicating that their electronic sweepers had detected the presence of a cell phone that was on. The individual who had inadvertently arrived with it deposited it with security officers. All we can take into the court room is a pen and notepad.
Once inside, you're inside until the judge lets you go. You may leave the courtroom only for court recesses or for an emergency. There is no entering the court once it is in session.