Requiring Bin Attash "to have physical contact with female guards violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA)," a 1993 federal law that protects a person's free exercise of religion, the 9/11 suspect's attorneys said in a statement Monday. "Prior to 2014, questions existed regarding RFRA's applicability to Guantanamo Bay detainees. Those questions were answered by the Supreme Court's recent decision, [which] conclusively establishes that the term 'person,' as used in RFRA, includes nonresident aliens" such as Bin Attash.
Guantanamo Prison recently introduced a new policy that requires guards (male or female) to have physical contact with "high-value detainees" whenever they're escorting them, a rule that's presented a problem in escorting detainees like Bin Attash, a devout Muslim who refuses to touch any woman who is not a relative.

Bin Attash, who faces the death penalty, has possibly damaged his prosecutors' case against him by choosing to stay in his cell rather than be physically led by a woman. Defense can now argue that their client was not given proper time for counsel.

"This will threaten the government's ability to seek death in this case," says Bin Attash's military-appointed attorney, Air Force Captain Michael Schwartz.. "A smart prosecutor would be on the phone with [Guantanamo officials] and saying, 'What the hell you are doing?'"