Another pretrial motion hearing occurred in the court martial of Pfc. Bradley Manning at Fort Meade today. During a recess in proceedings, a military legal matter expert opened a yellow envelope and pulled out physical copies of a ruling issued and read in court by the judge.

British prisoner Shaker Aamer has been imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay for over eleven years. He has not been charged with any crime or given a trial. He has been cleared for release yet he remains in detention. And he is one of the more than one hundred prisoners being held at Guantanamo who have been engaged in a hunger strike.

An environmental activist, who was prosecuted by the Justice Department for engaging in acts the department considers to be terrorism, has found out through a lawsuit of which he is a plaintiff that he was transferred to a prison in Marion, Illinois, and held in isolation for his political speech.

A Yemeni prisoner at the Guantanamo Bay prison, who has been participating in a hunger strike which has been ongoing for weeks, has requested “emergency humanitarian relief” from a federal district court because prisoners are being denied access to potable water.

The motion for emergency relief filed on March 26 by his attorneys asserts, “For the past three days, prison authorities have denied” Musa’ab Omar al Madhwani – “and others within his and one other cell block – access to potable water. When Musa’ab and his fellow prisoners requested drinking water, the guards told them to drink from the faucets.

Sourced to current and former legal and counterterrorism officials in the United States government, the New York Times published a story on Sunday on the killing of US-born Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who was targeted by a CIA drone without charge or trial on September 30, 2011.

Much of the material in the story from anonymous individuals could be considered sensitive or classified government information. These selective disclosures, which the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) condemned in a statement, functioned as propaganda.

A foundation dedicated to promoting and funding transparency journalism has released a recording of Pfc. Bradley Manning reading a statement he made in military court at Fort Meade about releasing United States government documents to WikiLeaks.

Most of the men imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay prison’s Camp 6 have been on hunger strike for nearly three weeks, according to their attorneys. In response to reports, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and habeas counsel have sent a letter to military officials take measures immediately to improve the situation.

The letter notes, “Since approximately February 6, 2013, camp authorities have been confiscating detainees’ personal items, including blankets, sheets, towels, mats, razors, toothbrushes, books, family photos, religious CDs, and letters, including legal mail; and restricting their exercise, seemingly without provocation or cause.” Additionally, “Arabic interpreters employed by the prison have been searching the men’s Qur’ans in ways that constitute desecration according to their religious beliefs, and that guards have been disrespectful during prayer times.”

Whenever members of the US media have heard Pfc. Bradley Manning is about to testify or make some kind of statement in military court at Fort Meade, where his court martial is taking place, the press pool has ballooned. Suddenly, many media organizations want to cover pretrial proceedings in this historic case.

This happened again when news spread Manning would be reading a 35-page statement he had typed up in confinement at Fort Leavenworth. The few reporters, who have gained notoriety for always being at Manning’s hearings, sent messages on Twitter and posted that Manning would be reading a statement. Well-established United States media organizations then planned to be at proceedings on February 28 to hear him present the statement.

Frequently throughout the long and drawn out process that has become the court martial of Pfc. Bradley Manning, reporters covering proceedings have complained or expressed frustration about the lack of access to court records. But, finally, the military has decided to allow a smidgen of transparency in the court martial to possibly avoid a major First Amendment ruling in a military appeals court that could find the United States military should be granting the press and public access to court martial records in the same way the press and public have access to federal court records.

President Barack Obama signed the intelligence authorization bill—the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Included in the bill were restrictions that would make it harder for his administration to transfer detainees from Guantanamo Bay prison and the Bagram prison in Afghanistan.