Guantanamo Detainee Gets Koran, But Not Bible

The Los Angeles Times today reports on Saifullah Paracha, a former Pakistani businessman who is in custody at Guantanamo Bay. He is charged with conspiring to ship chemical components to the United States to help set off an attack by Al Qaeda terrorists. Like other Guantanamo inmates, Paracha has been given a copy of the Koran. However, prison officials have confiscated a package containing a Bible, two Shakespeare plays and an English dictionary shipped to Paracha by his lawyer. His lawyer, Gaillard T. Hunt, has now filed suit in federal district court in Washington, DC, demanding that the package be released to Paracha. Authorities have cleared the Shakespeare volumes for release, but not the Bible. The government argues that withholding the Bible has not "substantially burdened" the prisoner's practice of his religion. It also fears setting off a "chain reaction" among the other 170 detainees who are suing the government for various kinds of relief.