Chuck Dunlap lectures in Professor George Edwards’ International Criminal Law class. Students in the class have conducted research on fair trial rights to incorporate into the Guantanamo Bay Fair Trial Manual.
Days before his mission to the Guantanamo Bay Naval Station (GTMO), Charles (Chuck) Dunlap lectured about the Military Commission hearings he will monitor at the remote military outpost on behalf of the Military Commission Observation Project (MCOP) of the Indiana University McKinney School of Law. Mr. Dunlap is scheduled to observe pre-trial hearings in the case against Abd al-Rahim al Nashiri, who is alleged to be a mastermind of the 2000 suicide attack on the U.S.S. Cole off the coast of Yemen. The attack killed 17 U.S. sailors and wounded several dozen.
The Military Commission Observation Program has been sending Indiana McKinney School of Law to monitor hearings at Guantanamo Bay and at Ft. Meade, Maryland, where the GTMO hearings are simultaneously video-cast on secure lines. The MCOP mission is for IU McKinney students, faculty, staff and graduates to attend, observer, analyze, critique, and report on pre-trial hearings and trials.
Guantanamo Bay Fair Trial Manual
MCOP monitors are expected to use the Guantanamo Bay Fair Trial Manual as a tool to help them ascertain whether they believe that all Guantanamo Bay Stakeholders are receiving a fair trail. the Manual lists dozens of fair trial rights that are to be afforded to the prosecution, victims and victims families, the defendants, the press, security and other personnel who work with the prisoners and with the court, the U.S. public, and others.
Professor Edwards and Mr. Dunlap and stack of Guantanamo Bay Fair Trial Manuals Mr. Dunlap will carry to Guantanamo Bay for NGO Observers to use in assessing fair trial rights. Copies of the draft Manual can be downloaded from www.GitmoObserver.com.
IU McKinney Law Students Assist in Fair Trial Project
IU McKinney law students enrolled in Professor George Edwards’ International Criminal Law class have been conducting legal research that is being incorporated into the Guantanamo Bay Fair Trial Manuals. Mr. Duncan met with students in the class, lectured on issues to be raised during the al Nashiri hearings during his mission, and discussed with the students their research. Each student in the class has been assigned one or more specific fair trial rights to explore, and the students are examining the international law and domestic U.S. law that define the rights in the Guantanamo Bay context.
Mr. Dunlap traveled to Ft. Meade several months ago to monitor Guantanamo Bay hearings. The MCOP, which is also known as The Gitmo Observer, is part of the Indiana University McKinney School of Law Program in International Human Rights Law. Professor Edwards is the founder of the Program in International Human Rights Law, and the MCOP / Gitmo Observer.