U.S. plans no more delay in Hicks Guantanamo trial

[struggle4progress]

Mon 14 Nov 2005 4:42 PM ET
By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON, Nov 14 (Reuters) - The United States plans to resume the war crimes trial of an Australian Guantanamo Bay prisoner this week without waiting for a Supreme Court ruling on the legality of these military tribunals.

The Supreme Court said last week it would decide whether President George W. Bush had the power to create the military commissions to put Guantanamo prisoners on trial for war crimes. The case before the high court involves Yemeni prisoner Salim Ahmed Hamdan. The justices could find the trials unconstitutional or endorse them as legal, among other possible outcomes.

A hearing is set for Friday at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in the trial of David Hicks, one of about 500 foreign terrorism suspects held at the prison. His case is to be decided by a panel of military officers, called a commission, in the first such U.S. war crimes trials since World War II. <snip>

Lawyers for Hicks last week asked U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly to delay the proceedings in light of the Supreme Court's review. The Bush administration opposed the motion to delay the proceedings. The judge has not ruled. <snip>

http://today.reuters.com/News/CrisesArticle.aspx?storyId=N14424720