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Military judge rejects prosecution bid to delay hearing for alleged 9/11 conspirators

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] A military judge Friday rejected a motion by the Pentagon's chief prosecutor at Guantanamo Bay to delay the military commission hearing of the five detainees being held as 9/11 conspirators, set for Monday. Army Col. Lawrence J. Morris requested the delay in part because of uncertainty over the future of the US military commissions in Guantanamo, saying "he government cannot represent with confidence that there will not be an interruption in all commission proceedings." The hearings are in doubt based on indications that President-elect Barack Obama that will move to close Guantanamo soon after taking office. Morris was also denied a request for delay of the pre-trial hearing of Omar Khadr, also scheduled to start Monday. Also on Friday, the lead defense council Air Force Col. Peter Masciola sent a letter to the convening authority of military commissions Susan Crawford asking that she withdraw the referrals in all pending military commission cases. Controversial practices and policies at Guantanamo Bay have kept the military prison in the news throughout the course of the Bush administration. On Wednesday, Crawford said in an interview with the Washington Post that torture tactics were used in the interrogation of Mohammed al-Qahtani, a suspect held at Guantanamo under allegations of connections to the 9/11 attacks. Crawford made the statement after nearly two years of reviewing Guantanamo Bay practices as well as the strength of legal cases against detainees. On Tuesday, the chairman of the US House Judiciary Committee published a report urging Obama to open a criminal investigation into the alleged abuses that have occurred at Guantanamo Bay throughout the Bush administration.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on January 17, 2009 (boomark / email).