Guantanamo Female Guards

By No Means Can Women Touch Us – 9/11 Detainees at Guantanamo Bay

Guantanamo Female Guards

After a trial with judge Col. James Pohl, women soldiers were restrained from shackling and escorting 9/11 detainees, sparking controversy and outrage.

Five Muslim men are being tried for taking part in the brutal attack of September 11.  Many feel that the objection to female guards is “absurd,” but others are sympathetic to their religious needs. According to Walter Ruiz, these men had been there for almost seven years. Ruiz is an attorney representing one of the detainees. His client said that until last Fall, when women were permitted to join the team, he had not once been touched by a female. He refuses to leave his cell if women are present due to his religion, which states Muslim men cannot touch a woman they aren’t related to.

The Detainees

Ruiz states that the problem is “an access to counsel issue,” saying that due to his religious needs and the lack of accommodation “means that we are not able to meet, we are not able to speak […] on legal issues, and therefore I’m not able to provide the legal services that I am required to provide.” Currently, no female guards are permitted to handle the September 11th detainees, something the soldiers are unanimously displeased by.

Objections

Kelly Ayotte, the New Hampshire Republican, complained to General John Kelly, the head of the United States Southern Command that kept watch over Guantanamo, saying that “When the 9-11 attackers don’t want women guarding them, it’s absurd and I don’t think we should be accommodating that.” Gen. Kelly agreed wholeheartedly, but added he couldn’t do a thing about it “because the high-value detainees felt it was against their religion, which anyone that knows anything about the Muslim religion knows that it’s not against their religion.” He believes the judge may have been deliberately misled, adding that soon it will be things like “we don’t want to be touched by Jews, or we don’t want to be touched by […] black soldiers.” The Command has received many Equal Opportunity reports, half by women who felt discriminated against and half were men who were not pleased to be working more.

Ruiz found his statement “very clear that he doesn’t really understand what is happening in the detention center that they’re supposed to be supervising.”David Nevin, attorney for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, said it’s about respect, adding that “while it is completely desirable and understandable for women to have a greater role in the military, there’s no explanation for why it absolutely has to be applied in this way, in this place, and that’s the problem.”

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