Gitmo attorneys say feds tap conversations

WASHINGTON, May 7 (UPI) -- Lawyers for several Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, prisoners said they believe their confidential conversations have been monitored by U.S. government agencies.

Several lawyers said concerns about the eavesdropping changed the way they conduct business aside from their work on the detainees' cases, The New York Times reported Wednesday. In an affidavit, one Chicago lawyer said she wasn't accepting new clients because she believed she couldn't assure them of confidentiality.

A court filing Tuesday by the Center for Constitutional Rights came as part of a 2007 Freedom of Information lawsuit in which Guantanamo detainees' lawyers are asking for records to determine whether they've been targeted for surveillance.

The U.S. Justice Department declined to comment Tuesday, the Times said. However, in March, department lawyers said they could neither confirm nor deny whether detainees' lawyers were surveillance targets "because doing so would compromise the United States intelligence communities' sources and methods."

Atlanta attorney John Chandler, who represents six detainees, told the Times, "I think they are listening to my telephone calls all the time."