Pentagon Relents After Denying Access to Gitmo Detainees, Lawyers Say

FILE: U.S. flags hang above the sign marking the Camp Justice compound at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. (AP Photo)

A group of attorneys, including military counsel, said they were being being blocked from meeting with their clients, the Sept. 11 suspects at Guantanamo Bay -- only to have access restored late Wednesday after Fox News reported the attorneys' concerns.

The lawyers represent four of the Sept. 11 suspects, including the self-described architect Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Sources said the lawyers wanted to notify their clients via letter of the situation but those efforts had been blocked as well.

The lawyers' failure to meet with their clients followed travel to the Cuban island detention facility this week on military flights. The trip had been cleared through standard channels the attorneys have used before on multiple trips to see the suspects.

The confusion about access comes after military commission charges were withdrawn without prejudice against the Sept. 11 suspects, meaning military trials remain a future option -- if charges are brought again.

Sources said detainees who have also had charges withdrawn before have continued to see counsel, so this recent block was "not standard." As one source put it, once on the ground, the lawyers were notified that attorney client meetings in the future would need the approval of Defense Department General Counsel Jay Johnson.

Pentagon spokeswoman Cynthia Smith told Fox News that the lawyers "are being given access," and Fox News later learned that the lawyers again were allowed contact with their clients.