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Guantanamo Interpreters' Accuracy Questioned

By possum

As if there were not enough problems with the ongoing military tribunals in Guantanamo Bay, now comes word the interpreters may not be as accurate as one may hope or assume.  In his recent pre-trial hearing Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi, a Saudi national, was speaking in Arabic while Marine Col. Ralph Kohlmann, a military judge at Guantanamo Bay, was listening to a simultaneous interpretation in English.

A linguist working with al-Hawsawi's team later estimated half of what the defendant said was rendered incorrectly by court interpreters and that al-Hawsawi didn't understand at least 25 per cent of what was said in English.

wwwcncmaps.com, Flickr

Some Guantanamo defendants are in the process of having their cases heard in advance of either military tribunals or trial by jury.  In the process

defence lawyers and human rights advocates charge that the fairness of the most significant proceeding at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is routinely undermined by incompetent interpretation.

The Pentagon on the other hand defends the process.  According to Joseph DellaVedova of the Office of Military Commissions

We work hard to provide the most qualified translators to do an important mission for our nation

But the entire process is clouded in secrecy.

Identities of Guantanamo interpreters are classified, and defence lawyers have been unable to secure their resumés to examine their professional backgrounds.

The overall lack of openness fails our judicial promise of a fair trial.

A judge removed an interpreter in a separate proceeding at Guantanamo when the words "Osama bin Laden's driver" were repeatedly interpreted as "Osama bin Laden's lawyer."

Anthony Barkow, executive director of the Center on the Administration of Criminal Law at New York University, described the quality of interpretation at a pretrial hearing as "ridiculous."

jemstaht, Flickr, Creative Commons

Peace.

Full post as published by Never In Our Names on October 16, 2008 (boomark / email).