Guantanamo More Strict, Detainees Say

Defense attorneys worry that their clients, most of whom have not been charged, will face harsher conditions indefinitely.

Joshua Colangelo-Bryan, who represents several detainees at Guantanamo, said his recent visits have been alarming. Isa al-Murbati, 41, of Bahrain, told him that guards are purposefully interfering with Muslim prayers and sending out aggressive response teams to physically subdue detainees who do not cooperate.

"It appears that authorities at Guantanamo are trying to reassert control," Colangelo-Bryan said.

Melissa A. Hoffer visited clients in Cuba last month and said that the environment is "completely repressive" and that she had not seen her clients in such despair since she began representing them.

Lakhdar Boumediene, a Bosnian-Algerian in his early forties, told Hoffer that he now lives in a steel "cage" and that the restrictions have been "unbearable."

"Despite everything, they have retained some sense of hope, and that's something that has always blown me away about them," Hoffer said. "During my last visit, I sensed some erosion of that hope, and desperation creeping in."

Mohamed al-Qahtani, who is believed to have been a potential 20th hijacker in the Sept. 11 attacks, is living under conditions similar to those the new detainees may face. Though he has not faced aggressive interrogation since early 2003, Qahtani remains isolated in a cell with lights on 24 hours a day. Gitanjali Gutierrez, a lawyer with the Center for Constitutional Rights who represents Qahtani, said Qahtani has experienced psychological problems from the rough questioning.

She said her visits with about 10 clients during the month of July aroused concern.

"Now it's so tight and harsh that they're having mental breakdowns," Gutierrez said. "The deterioration of my clients is just remarkable."