Guantanamo Military Commission - Security Precautions

Security Precautions

On January 2, 2008 Toronto Star reporter Michelle Shephard offered an account of the security precautions reporters go through before they can attend the hearings:

• Reporters were only allowed to bring in one pen;
• Female reporters were frisked if they wore underwire bras;
• Reporters were not allowed to bring in their traditional coil-ring notepads;
• The bus bringing reporters to the hearing room is checked for explosives before it leaves;
• 200 metres from the hearing room reporters dismount, pass through metal detectors, and are sniffed by chemical detectors for signs of exposure to explosives;
• Only eight reporters are allowed into the hearing room—the remainder watch over closed circuit TV;