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Judge backs Guantanamo trial
18/07/2008 07:34 - (SA)
Washington - A US judge ruled on Thursday that the war crimes trial of the former driver of Osama bin Laden, Salim Hamdan, can go ahead as scheduled on Monday in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
"The motion for injunction is denied," Judge James Robertson, rejecting the last-ditch attempt by Hamdan's lawyers to halt the trial.
"It is bad news for us, we are very disappointed," Joseph Mac Millan, one of Hamdan's lawyers said, adding that he had expected a different outcome. He also repeated allegations that Hamdan was tortured in US custody.
Hamdan is set to be the first "enemy combatant" to face a military tribunal since the US "war-on-terror" prison camp was opened in late 2001 at the naval base in Cuba.
Lawyers for Hamdan, a 37-year-old Yemeni, called for the suspension of the trial following the US Supreme Court's June decision allowing the roughly 260 Guantanamo inmates to challenge their detention in civilian courts.
That ruling dealt a serious blow to the Bush administration, but the latest court decision revives its hopes of putting the suspects held at Guantanamo on trial.
A disappointed Mac Millan said an appeal was in the works and would take about two weeks.
The Bush administration has faced heated criticism since 2002 for detaining prisoners for years without giving them the right to defend themselves in court.
Hamdan, bin Laden's former chauffeur and bodyguard, is facing charges of conspiracy and providing material support for terrorism in the nation's first war crimes tribunal since the end of World War II.
- AFP
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