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Military judge grants further delay in Guantanamo trial

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

[JURIST] A US military judge on Wednesday granted a government request to further postpone hearings for Saudi Guantanamo Bay detainee Ahmed Mohammed Ahmed Haza al Darbi. Chief judge for military commissions Colonel James Pohl set a January 11, 2010 date for a hearing on which statements would be admissible at trial. Darbi claims that statements he made while detained, first at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan and later at Guantanamo Bay, were elicited through torture and therefore should be excluded from the case against him. In May, Pohl granted the government's motion for a continuance until September 24, following a previously granted continuance in February. Darbi is accused of plotting an attack that never took place on a ship in the Strait of Hormuz and training at an al Qaeda camp. If convicted, he could face life in prison. Darbi's case is one of six active military commission proceedings at Guantanamo. The government has also sought delays in the other cases. Earlier this week, Judge Stephen Henley granted the government's request for a 60-day continuance in the trial of five Guantanamo detainees accused of plotting the 9/11 attacks. This is the government's third continuance in that case as well, having been granted 120-day continuances in January and May. Pentagon prosecutors said Attorney General Eric Holder will decide by November 16 whether to continue the military commission proceeding or to transfer the case to federal court.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on September 24, 2009 (boomark / email).