Coblentz partner Paul Tauber was appointed as a civilian observer on behalf of the Pacific Council on International Policy to observe a week of pre-trial hearings in the U.S. v. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (GTMO). Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is the alleged mastermind of the September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center, and stands trial along with four others. In 2013 the Pacific Council was granted official NGO observer status at the Military Commission at GTMO, joining a group of organizations, including the American Bar Association and Amnesty International, that have the privilege of sending a representative to observe proceedings at GTMO.
Paul Tauber’s GTMO assignment follows the lead of the late William (Bill) Coblentz, who was also appointed as an observer by the American Bar Association in 1989 when he traveled to Singapore on behalf of the ABA to observe the trials of four Singaporean lawyers accused of conspiring to undermine the government.