A clash between Muslim inmates and the female soldiers assigned to guard them has led to a standoff at the lockup in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
A judge has blocked female guards from shackling and escorting five Muslim men being tried for plotting the Sept. 11 attacks. Soldiers, in turn, have filed Equal Opportunity complaints against the judge.
Walter Ruiz is the lawyer for one of the Guantanamo detainees who object to being escorted by female guards.
During the first six years he represented him, Ruiz says, only male guards had touched his client — that is, until last fall, when female members of a National Guard unit became part of the team that shackled him.
Ruiz says his client refuses to leave his cell if women are on the escort team because Muslim men can only touch women they’re related to.
“It means that we are not able to meet, we are not able to speak with each other on legal issues, and therefore I’m not able to provide the legal services that I am required to provide and the advocacy that I’m required to provide on his behalf,” Ruiz says. “It’s an access to counsel issue.”
This article was originally published in National Public Radio (NPR).