Judge's ruling may halt all Guantanamo trials

[maddezmom]

~snip~

The judge said a military review board had labeled Khadr an "enemy combatant" during a 2004 hearing in Guantanamo. But the Military Commissions Act adopted by the U.S. Congress in 2006 said only "unlawful enemy combatants" could be tried in the Guantanamo tribunals.

Brownback said Khadr did not meet that strict definition because there had been no formal proceeding designating him as unlawful.

Because none of the 380 foreign captives held at Guantanamo have been designated in that way, lawyers said they could not be tried unless they first faced proceedings reclassifying them as unlawful enemy combatants.

Brownback dismissed the charges against Khadr, but left open the possibility that charges could be re-filed if Khadr went back before a review board and was formally reclassified.

This was the latest setback for the Bush government's efforts to put the Guantanamo detainees through some form of judicial process. It was forced to rewrite the rules last year after the U.S. Supreme Court deemed the old tribunals illegal.

more:http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N04481007.htm

[mikelgb]

1. lol

[Demeter]

2. But Which Judge Will Order The Release and Repatriation of Captives?

and maybe even reparations? And trials for their captors?

We aren't out of these woods by a long shot.

[maddezmom]

3. Guantanamo war crimes trials screech to halt

Guantanamo war crimes trials screech to halt

GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba, June 4 (Reuters) - U.S. military judges dropped all war crimes charges on Monday against the only two Guantanamo captives facing trial, rulings that could preclude trying any of the 380 prisoners held at the U.S. base in Cuba any time soon.

The judges said they lacked jurisdiction under the strict definition of those eligible for trial by military tribunal under a law the U.S. Congress enacted last year.

"It's another demonstration that the system simply doesn't work," said the tribunals' chief defense counsel, Marine Col. Dwight Sullivan.

The rulings did not affect U.S. authority to indefinitely hold the 380 foreign terrorism suspects detained at the Guantanamo Bay naval base in southeast Cuba.

more:http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N04481007.htm