367. However, other factors undermine the presumption of innocence. For instance, the accused, who has already been classified as an enemy combatant by the CSRTs, is presented as an alien “unprivileged enemy belligerent” before facing trial. This designation, which is indispensable to satisfy the personal jurisdiction requirements of the MCA, indicates to the judge and to the members of the military commission that the accused engaged in hostilities against the United States or coalition partners, purposefully and materially supported hostilities and/or was part of al Qaeda before the trial even begins.879 Additionally, the length of detention may affect the presumption of innocence. Of the detainees currently facing pre-trial proceedings, one detainee has been in detention for approximately 13 years, five detainees have been in detention for approximately 12 years and one detainee has been detained for almost nine years.880 Notably, the Human Rights Committee has found that nine years of preventative detention constituted a violation of the right to be presumed innocent.881 The lengthy ongoing detention of the detainees currently facing trial by military commissions likely violates international standards on the right to be presumed innocent. 368. Senior government officials’ public statements on the guilt of the detainees also affect the presumption of innocence. The President, the Secretary of Defense, the United States Attorney General, members of Congress and senior military figures have made numerous statements that have asserted the guilt of the defendants.882 These statements include those that refer to detainees as “killers”, “terrorists”, “murderers”, “the worst of the worst”, members of al Qaeda who would “engage in murder once again” and, in Khalid Shaikh Mohammad’s case, “the mastermind of the September 11 attacks (…) [who] conceived and planned the hijackings and directed the actions of the hijackers”.883 In some instances, 879 See MCA 2009, § 948(a)(7). This detention includes detention in both Guantánamo and secret CIA detention facilities. Al-Nashiri has been detained since 2002, while al Shibh, Khalid Shaikh Mohammad, al Baluchi, bin ‘Attash and al Hawsawi have been in detention since 2003. AlIraqi has been detained since 2006. Senate Study on the CIA RDI Programme, Executive Summary, op. cit., note 171, pp. 458461;“The Guantánamo Docket”, The New York Times website, op. cit., note 88; Rosenberg, “Who’s still being held at Guantánamo”, op. cit., note 88; Rosenberg, “By the Numbers”, op. cit., note 88. 881 UN HRC, Cagas, Butin and Astillero v. The Philippines, op. cit., note 871, para. 7.3. 882 A brief submitted to the military commission in the Mohammad et al. case includes approximately 71 public statements made by US officials that infer the guilt of the accused. A similar brief was submitted in Al-Nashiri’s case. United States Military Commission, United States of America v. Mohammad et al., AE 031B (MAH), “Defense Reply to Government Response to Joint Defense Motion to Dismiss for Unlawful Influence”, 1 June 2012, p. 1; United States Military Commission, United States of America v. Mohammad et al., AE 031, “Joint Defense Motion for Unlawful Influence”, 11 May 2012; United States Military Commission, United States of America v. Al-Nashiri, AE 197, op. cit., note 839. 883 See, also, Part 2-II-A for additional statements. Examples of relevant statements include: “Transcript of Bush News Conference on Iraq”, CNN website, 7 March 2003, <http://edition.cnn.com/2003/US/03/06/bush.speech.transcript/>; “Bush Reconsiders Prisoners’ Rights”, BBC website, 29 January 2002, <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1788062.stm>: President Bush said “these are killers, these are terrorists”; Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld, “Secretary Rumsfeld Media Availability En Route to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba”, United States Department of Defense website, 27 January 2002, <http://www.defense.gov/transcripts/transcript.aspx?transcriptid=2320>: “these are among the most dangerous, best trained vicious killers on the face of the earth”; Liz Halloran, “Trying Sept. 11 Suspects in U.S. A Political Gamble”, NPR website, 19 November 2009, <http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120546400>: United States Attorney General Eric Holder said “I'm not going to base a determination on where these cases ought to be brought on what a terrorist - what a murderer - wants to do”; Fleischer, “Press Briefing by Ari Fleischer”, op. cit., note 840: The White House Press Secretary said “for the most part they're all al Qaeda, and if they were free they would engage in murder once again. These are not mere innocents. These are among the worst of the worst who are being detained because of what they have done, because of the suicidal nature of the actions that they have taken - their willingness, their training to go out and kill and destroy and engage in suicide if they can take others with them”; United States President George W. Bush, “Remarks at a Texas Victory 2006 Rally in Sugar Land, Texas”, 30 October 2006, <http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=24237&st=&st1=>; United States Military 880 160