WASHINGTON: Photos may help Lindh’s case

U.S. soldiers posed for photos with Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh, who was handcuffed and wearing a blindfold with an obscenity written on it, Pentagon officials said Friday.

The disclosure could help support his attorney’s claims that Lindh was mistreated while in U.S. custody.

It is at least the third troublesome incident for the Department of Defense involving photos of Lindh, a 21-year-old Californian who is accused of training with al-Qaida terrorists and is charged with conspiring to kill Americans.

In a court motion, his lawyers have said that unofficial photos and videos of Lindh were taken aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Peleliu while he was confined on the Navy ship. The photos troops took of themselves with their prisoner were found when the Pentagon did a computer search for documents and other materials ordered by the court, another official said.

Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld said he didn’t know if the photos were being held at the Pentagon and that he hadn’t seen them.

Washington: Lawyers for Sept. 11 suspect protest his treatment in jail

Zacarias Moussaoui is so tightly confined and closely watched that he cannot help his lawyers prepare for his capital trial on charges he conspired to commit the Sept. 11 hijackings, his attorneys said Friday in a motion asking a judge to intervene.

Prosecutors have turned over 1,400 CD-ROMs of scanned documents to the defense, but Moussaoui, a French citizen who was in U.S. custody on the day of the attacks, can’t access this information because he has no computer, and his cell at the Alexandria, Va., jail does not have room for a desk, defense lawyers wrote in their 17-page motion.

Although the Justice Department is not officially monitoring Moussaoui’s conversations with his lawyers, the defense wrote that jail security is interfering with their confidentiality. Jailers routinely search Moussaoui’s printed material and stand within earshot when he talks on the phone to his lawyers.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Robert Spencer declined to comment on the filing.

Miami: U.S. to join nations critical of Cuban human rights record

The United States will join the growing number of countries sponsoring a resolution against Cuba at the United Nations Commission on Human Rights annual gathering in Geneva, officials announced Friday.

U.S. participation brings to 16 the number of countries joining the effort to censure Cuba, including nine from Latin America  the first time such action on Cuba’s human-rights record has been spearheaded by the region.

“This is the first time Latin American countries have said that human-rights issues in Cuba is a matter of concern,” said James Carragher, coordinator of Cuban affairs for the U.S. Department of State. “Some courageous Latin American countries and leaders have taken a principled stand on human rights.”

This year’s gathering in Geneva also represents the first time the United States has had to rely on other countries to present a resolution condemning Cuba.