Lawyer, Alleged Combatant Meet

A U.S. citizen jailed since he was captured with Taliban fighters in Afghanistan in 2001 met with his attorney for the first time Tuesday in a jailhouse session.

Federal public defender Frank W. Dunham Jr. emerged from the one-hour meeting with Yaser Esam Hamdi, whom the government has declared an “enemy combatant,” and said he was pleased to finally see the man whose case he had litigated for more than two years.

“This was becoming a hypothetical case to us, and now we are reminded it’s about a human being who happens to be a U.S. citizen,” Dunham said. “Seeing the client in person, being able to put a human face on this case, had an effect on me that is not measurable.”

Dunham and assistant federal public defender Geremy Kamens took legal papers and newspaper articles to Hamdi, who Dunham said seemed equally happy to see his attorneys.

“I’m sure it made an impression on a client who has been looking down a lightless tunnel for 2 1/2 years, not knowing anyone is doing anything for him, and now he knows that he has a case in the U.S. Supreme Court,” Dunham said.

Dunham continued his criticism of the restrictions the military placed on the meeting at the Charleston Consolidated Naval Brig in South Carolina. Military observers attended and recorded the meeting, and Dunham was not allowed to question Hamdi about the conditions of his confinement.

“We were not able to talk about anything substantive,” Dunham said.

Legal experts said the meeting was significant amid the debate over the Bush administration’s handling of its declared war on terrorism, and with the Supreme Court scheduled to take up Hamdi’s case in April.