Judge refuses to stop war crimes trial

Published: November 7, 2007, 6:56 pm

Removing what probably is the last potential barrier in civilian courts to the opening of the first war crimes trial at Guantanamo Bay on Thursday morning, Cuba, a federal District judge in Washington refused on Wednesday to postpone those proceedings. In a three-page order, U.S. District Judge John D. Bates ruled that he had no jurisdiction to hear what he called a request for “substantial judicial action” against a Pentagon-sponsored trial before a military commission. The trial is of a young Canadian, Omar Ahmed Khadr, on charges that include murder of a U.S. serviceman in Afghanistan when Khadr was 15 years old. (The judge’s order can be found here.) In July, relying upon the Supreme Court’s vote in late June to hear a constitutional test of the legal rights of Guantanamo detainees to test their captivity, Judge Bates had refused a government plea to dismiss one of the detainee habeas cases pending before him (Al Maqaleh v. Gates, 06-1699). On

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