WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge has ordered the government to stop genital searches of Guantanamo Bay detainees who want to meet with their lawyers.
Royce Lamberth, chief judge of the U.S. District Court in Washington, on Thursday limited guards to grasping the waistband of a detainee’s trousers and shaking the pants to dislodge any contraband.
The detainees had complained that guards had recently begun touching and holding detainees’ genital and anal areas during searches.
Detainee lawyers say the searches began after prisoners were told they would have to travel offsite to meet with their lawyers at another location at the U.S. Navy base in Cuba, rather than at the prison there. The lawyers say some detainees had refused to make the trip because of the new searches.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
