Illustrations from Inside Gitmo's Secretive Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Hearings

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s military commission at Guantanamo Bay is a guarded affair. It will be the trial of the century—the first attempt at bringing a high-level war-on-terror detainee and four of his accused co-conspirators to justice. There are only a handful of media permitted there at any given time during pretrial hearings that have been held on-and-off for months, and press have to sit in a tiny room separated by glass from where the hearings for the self-proclaimed "mastermind of 9/11" are being held. At any moment the sound can be cut off if classified material is presented as evidence. 

Molly Crabapple secured access and traveled down there for an upcoming issue of VICE, and she sent us these sketchbook drawings of yesterday’s pretrial hearings, which were mostly about how the defense can’t properly represent their client because they don’t have access to classified evidence that will be brought against him, and that attorney-client privilege is being breached, because calls between lawyers and client are recorded. And then, reports Molly:

Reversing a three year policy, artists at #GTMO are no longer allowed to use opera glasses (the only way to see the front of the court)

— mollycrabapple (@mollycrabapple) June 18, 2013

These are the only visuals of the hearings that exist other than the drawings by the official courtroom sketch artist. There's more from Molly to come. Click images to enlarge.

More courtroom drawings from Molly Crabapple, and more on Gitmo:

Lulz and Leg Irons: In the Courtroom with Weev
Why Does It Take Going Hungry To Go Free?

This story originally ran at Vice.