Guantanamo prosecutors seek trial freeze

[cal04]

Source: Reuters

On the orders of new U.S. President Barack Obama, prosecutors in the Guantanamo war crimes tribunals asked military judges on Tuesday to halt pending cases for 120 days, a trial source said.

Tribunal judges were expected to rule on the request on Wednesday, the source said.


updated
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N20441415.htm

Read more: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N20441921.htm

---

Defense: Prosecutors seek to pause Guantanamo Bay trials
http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/37894689.html

[baldguy]

1. Bush's legacy is bleeding away.

[smiley]

2. 120 days

4 more months that humans will sit in cages awaiting their fates.

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. Comments on this:

A human rights group at Guantanamo to observe this week's session of the war crimes court welcomed what appeared to be the looming end of the special tribunals.

"It's a great first step but it is only a first step," said Gabor Rona, international director of Human Rights First. "The suspension of military commissions so soon after President Obama took office is an indication of the sense of urgency he feels about reversing the destructive course that the previous administration was taking in fighting terrorism."

Jamil Dakwar, director of the human rights program at the American Civil Liberties Union, said it was a positive step but "the president's order leaves open the option of this discredited system remaining in existence."

Relatives of victims of the Sept. 11 attacks, who were also at the base to observe the hearings, have said they oppose any further delay in the trials of the men charged in the case.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iCpAiXsS28ctqTC-AqtM0twgv0HQD95RDAQO0

[maddezmom]

4. Iglesias reinstated and working on Gitmo

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x262603

[JeffreyWilliamson]

5. Obama orders Guantanamo prosecutors to ask for 120-day halt in tribunals: trial source

Source: Reuters

Obama orders Guantanamo prosecutors to ask for 120-day halt in tribunals: trial source

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/

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No other info yet, but was just mentioned on MSNBC.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

6. He needs time to consider his options...

[JeffreyWilliamson]

7. MSNBC speculated...

...that a new trial was to start this week, and they wanted to stop it because if it started it would complicate the order to close the facility.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

8. Thanks for the clarification!

[Why Syzygy]

9. US torture ends TODAY. nt

[JeffreyWilliamson]

10. More now, but not much, on Reuters' website...

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE50K0S620090121

GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba (Reuters) - On the orders of new U.S. President Barack Obama, prosecutors in the Guantanamo war crimes tribunals asked military judges on Tuesday to halt pending cases for 120 days, a trial source said.

Tribunal judges were expected to rule on the request on Wednesday, the source said.

[Turborama]

11. More on Washington Post

By Peter Finn

Washington Post Staff Writer

Tuesday, January 20, 2009; 11:51 PM

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, Jan. 20 -- In one of its first actions, the Obama administration instructed military prosecutors late Tuesday to seek a 120-day halt of legal proceedings involving detainees at the Guantanamo Bay naval base -- a clear break with the approach of the outgoing Bush administration.

The instruction came in a motion filed late Tuesday with a military court handling the case of five defendants accused of organizing the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. The motion called for "a continuance of the proceedings" until May 20 so that "the newly inaugurated president and his administration review the military commissions process, generally, and the cases currently pending before military commissions, specifically."

Such a request may not be automatically granted by military judges, and not all defense attorneys may not agree to such a suspension. The government's request will have to be ruled on by military judges Wednesday.

But the move is a first step towards closing a detention facility and system of military trials that became a worldwide symbol of the Bush administration's war on terror, and its unyielding attitude to foreign and domestic critics.


The legal maneuver appears designed to provide the Obama administration time to refashion the prosecution system and potentially treat detainees as criminal defendants in federal court or to have them face war-crime charges in military courts-martial. It is also possible that the administration could reform and relocate the military commissions before resuming trials.

"We would rather have seen the charges withdrawn, but it's a good indication that military commissions will not go forward," said Stacy Sullivan, counter-terrorism at Human Rights Watch.

More:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/20/AR2009012004743.html?hpid=topnews

[IsItJustMe]

12. A reason for hope anyway.

[Turborama]

13. AJ English's report

UPDATED ON: WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2009 05:04 GMT

Barack Obama, the US president, has requested a 120-day suspension of the military tribunals being held at the US' controversial Guantanamo Bay detention centre.

Judges at Guantanamo are expected to rule on the president's request later on Wednesday, trial sources told the Reuters news agency.

Obama's request would halt proceedings in cases pending against 21 men, including a case against five people accused of plotting the September 11, 2001 aeroplane attacks on the US.

"The president has verbally ordered a suspension to the tribunals at Guantanamo Bay," Al Jazeera's Monica Villamizar reported from the facility.

"It's not an executive order closing Guantanamo Bay, but a halt to the trials for 120 days."

Prosecution lawyers had been seeking to halt the military tribunals pending a review by the new US administration, with the option of them being restarted at a later date.

But defence lawyers have called for the charges to be withdrawn in a way that would allow them to be re-filed under a different legal system.

The legal manoeuvrings came after a military judge adjourned the Guantanamo Bay military court ahead of Obama's swearing-in as US president.

Prior to his inauguration, Obama had vowed to close down the detention centre, a legacy of by George Bush, the former US president.

More:
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/01/2009121138358923.html

[Solly Mack]

14. K&R

[Piewhacket]

15. Excellent. Now get a team in there.

and don't forget to interview the folks who just "retired".
we might need them to testify.
at war crime trials.
maybe their own.

[defendandprotect]

16. Good that his thoughts were first with the suffering ----

How many had we held ... 80,000?

Or more--???

Anything Bush/Cheney touched should be overturned --

[Seldona]

17. Go Obama!

Time to dismantle the Torture/Military Industrial Complex. Coming out of the gate strong. These are exciting days, to be sure.