Defense lawyers tour prison’s secret Camp 7

For the first time, defense lawyers have been allowed to see a section of the Guantanamo prison that is so restricted, even its location on the U.S. base is secret.

Two military lawyers for Ramzi Binalshibh, an alleged plotter of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, were granted 90 minutes to view Camp 7, a section for “high value” detainees that has been shrouded in mystery since it opened two years ago.

The attorneys are trying to determine if their client is competent to stand trial and to gauge the effects of the prison-within-a-prison on a man who, according to documents, believes that his bed shakes and that noxious odors are pumped into his cell.

Navy Cmdr. Suzanne Lachelier and Lt. Richard Federico said they were barred from revealing what they saw on the tour. “It was helpful. It was worthwhile,” Lachelier said.