Two Judges Refuse to Delay First Guantanamo Trial

Guantanamo/Detainees

Two Judges Refuse to Delay First Guantanamo Trial

Posted Jul 18, 2008, 07:19 am CDT
By Debra Cassens Weiss

Judges in Washington, D.C., and Guantanamo Bay yesterday turned down last-minute attempts to delay the military commissions trial of the driver for Osama bin Laden.

Lawyers for Salim Ahmed Hamdan had argued the military commission process is unconstitutional, the New York Times reports. U.S. District Judge James Robertson of Washington, D.C., said the issues are serious but they should be litigated after the trial. The military judge, Captain Keith Allred, refused a delay based on similar claims, the story says.

Hamdan’s lawyers had cited last month’s Supreme Court ruling in Boumediene v. Bush giving Guantanamo detainees a right to challenge their detentions in federal court. They had argued the trial would improperly allow testimony based on hearsay and evidence obtained in coercive interrogations.

Robertson said Congress had decided in a 2006 law that the best approach was to delay legal challenges until after the military commission process had ended, the Washington Post reports.

Allred said Hamdan had many legal protections, including legal counsel, a public trial and an evidence standard requiring proof beyond a reasonable doubt, the Times story says.

Hamdan’s lawyers will seek to prove he was a driver and a mechanic, but not a member of al-Qaida, the Associated Press reports in a story on Hamdan’s background.

ABA Journal - Law News Now

Guantanamo/Detainees