Some, however not all, of Nurjaman’s authorized proceedings are open to the general public and media. However attending is a logistical minefield. Reporters should apply, pay for a seat on a once-weekly flight to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and keep in tents for the week till a return flight the next weekend.
This masthead watches the Monday morning listening to from a devoted viewing room in Fort Meade, Maryland, about 45 kilometres from Washington, DC. The sprawling navy base is ready on 2000 hectares and is house to the Nationwide Safety Company, US Cyber Command and the Defence Info College, amongst different amenities.
A detention facility at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba.Credit score: NYT
Entry to the bottom have to be accepted. I used to be escorted from the gate by automobile, together with an observer from an activist group, Judicial Watch, to the viewing room, the place rows of chairs and desks sat unoccupied in entrance of a display. Guests can convey their very own meals and drinks, or depend on a temperamental merchandising machine.
The scene is a low-rent model of a typical courtroom. About eight individuals sit on the federal government bench, and 5 on the defence, together with Nurjaman. Of his workforce, two members are in navy garb, two in civilian.
The navy decide, Lieutenant Counsel Wesley Braun, seems on the display at 9.05am, sitting at a bench underneath a row of air pressure, navy, military, US Coast Guard and Division of Defence seals.
After logistics are confirmed – together with scheduled prayer breaks – the following authorized argument is worried mainly with entry to, and use of, paperwork. It’s inherent in a case like this that realms of extremely categorized authorities data are concerned.
Firefighters reply to the bomb blast on the Sari evening membership on Kuta Seaside on October 12, 2002.Credit score: AP
The defence says it has been supplied with 1000’s of pages of summaries drafted by the federal government for the needs of the trial. These should not precise supply paperwork. However defence legal professionals should not allowed to indicate the summaries to Nurjaman, who patently doesn’t have a safety clearance.
A younger and fast-talking defence lawyer, Captain Reid Hopkins of the US Marine Corps, is requested a number of instances by the decide to decelerate. Hopkins says Nurjaman is “the professional on his personal experiences in CIA custody” and Nurjaman has to see the paperwork as a result of “we don’t know what ought to be in there”.
“We’d take a look at one doc and say, ‘This isn’t notably vital’. Mr Nurjaman may know – might need his reminiscence jogged – when he appears at 20 paperwork. He has a baseline of data that we don’t have.”
The federal government, in the meantime, argues it has offered Nurjaman’s defence with an unlimited quantity of extremely delicate data in good religion. It says the legislation requires it at hand over paperwork to the “accused”, which it says means the accused particular person or their authorized workforce, not the accused particular person and their authorized workforce.
Balinese lady pray on the monument of the 2002 Bali bombings throughout a memorial service to mark the 22th anniversary in Kuta close to Denpasar, Bali on October 12, 2024.Credit score: AFP
“We don’t present categorized data to somebody who just isn’t a holder of a safety clearance,” prosecution counsel Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Goewert says, including the defence is just speculating there may be one thing of curiosity within the information. “It isn’t precise proof earlier than you of an actual downside,” he advised the decide. “It’s a faux downside, it’s a dummy downside.”
After about 90 minutes, the session is over. Braun, the decide, says the listening to will reconvene later however in a closed session. This masthead is escorted again off the bottom.
Pre-trial proceedings proceed the next day and later, Nurjaman’s civilian defence lawyer Todd Fanniff says the questions over what proof Nurjaman’s legal professionals may share with their shopper had gone unresolved.
“We wish to have the ability to focus on the proof with him,” he says in a cellphone interview. “He’s a useful resource for us to know, discover out different witnesses, avenues that we would discover.”
US defence lawyer James Hodes, who represented Nurjaman.Credit score: AP
Fanniff began on the case final July, taking on from James Hodes, the legal defence lawyer who has represented Nurjaman since 2019 and is retiring.
This can be a frequent downside in these prolonged navy fee trials, not simply amongst defence counsel however the judges and navy prosecutors as nicely. The proceedings go on for thus lengthy that the personnel change assignments and get changed.
“We convey that up at any alternative that we expect is suitable,” Fanniff says. “It’s a problem to strive a case once you don’t know [the history].”
Family and friends of the Australian Bali bombing victims understandably have diverse views on Nurjaman’s destiny. Some really feel any type of justice is not possible after such a very long time. Some died ready for Nurjaman to face trial.
Backside left: Bali bombing sufferer Marc Gajardo together with his girlfriend Hanabeth Luke (additionally pictured now, proper), who stopped to assist Tom Singer (prime left). Credit score: Nick Moir, Maldonado Roberto/Australscope, Equipped
Hanabeth Luke, who survived the Sari Membership blast however misplaced her boyfriend Marc Gajardo, says justice continues to be potential – and vital – regardless of the twenty years between the bombing and Nurjaman’s day in court docket.
“You will need to see justice finished, even in any case this time,” she says. “The shock waves of that terrible occasion proceed to ripple via the lives of 1000’s all over the world, together with so many people survivors, our households and all those that supported us.
“Sadly, the shock waves of world violence and stress are at their highest in my lifetime. We want justice, accountability and peace now greater than ever.”
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