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Guantanamo Canadian case dropped Guantanamo pair charges dropped
(about 7 hours later)
A US military judge has dropped charges against a Canadian held at Guantanamo Bay, saying he could not be tried under new laws governing military tribunals. A US military judge has thrown out charges against two Guantanamo detainees, casting fresh doubt on efforts to try foreign terror suspects.
Omar Khadr was just 15 years old when he was captured in Afghanistan. Both cases collapsed because military authorities had failed to designate the men as "unlawful" enemy combatants.
He appeared in court charged with murder, attempted murder, conspiracy and providing support for terrorism. In one case a Canadian man, Omar Khadr, was accused of killing a US soldier in Afghanistan with a grenade.
But the judge ruled he could not be tried under current laws because he was not classified as an "unlawful" enemy combatant in previous hearings. Charges were also dropped against Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a Yemeni accused of being Osama bin Laden's driver and bodyguard.
The charges were dismissed "without prejudice", said Col Peter Brownback, the presiding judge. The BBC's James Westhead in Washington says the rulings deal a stunning blow to the Bush administration's attempt to bring its detainees at Guantanamo Bay to trial.
His decision deals a big blow to the trial system, says the BBC's Justin Webb, in Washington. We don't need any more evidence that it's a failure This system should just stop Col Dwight SullivanMilitary lawyer class="" href="/1/hi/world/americas/5134328.stm">Q&A: Military tribunals
Under a new system of military justice approved by Congress last year, detainees facing trial must be designated "unlawful enemy combatants".
When they were assessed years earlier they were described only as "enemy combatants". The word "unlawful" did not appear, giving the new tribunals no jurisdiction.
It seems the same may apply to all the other 380 detainees, leaving the tribunal system in legal limbo while Bush administration lawyers race to clarify the situation, our correspondent says.
Tribunal issueTribunal issue
Mr Khadr had been classified as an "enemy combatant" under a previous tribunal system that was eventually thrown out in 2006 by the US Supreme Court. Defendant Omar Khadr, 20, appeared in court on Monday wearing a prison uniform, light sandals and a straggly beard.
We don't need any more evidence that it's a failure This system should just stop Col Dwight SullivanMilitary lawyer class="" href="/1/hi/world/americas/5134328.stm">Q&A: Military tribunals But under new legislation approved by President George W Bush, only detainees classified as "unlawful enemy combatants" can face trial at Guantanamo Bay. He was just 15 years old when he was captured in Afghanistan, and was accused of killing a US soldier during a battle at a suspected al-Qaeda base in 2002.
The defendant appeared in court on Monday wearing a prison uniform, light sandals and a straggly beard, reports said. Hamdan says he was just a driver and not an al-Qaeda memberHe appeared in court charged with murder, attempted murder, conspiracy and providing support for terrorism.
He is accused of killing a US soldier during a battle at a suspected al-Qaeda base in 2002.
The judge left open the possibility that Mr Khadr could be re-charged if he appeared before an official review panel and was formally classified as an "unlawful" enemy combatant.The judge left open the possibility that Mr Khadr could be re-charged if he appeared before an official review panel and was formally classified as an "unlawful" enemy combatant.
He said prosecutors could lodge an appeal within 72 hours, although it was not immediately clear who they could appeal to.He said prosecutors could lodge an appeal within 72 hours, although it was not immediately clear who they could appeal to.
The word "unlawful" has not been used in any of the other pending cases, so it looks as though the whole tribunal system will once again come to a juddering halt, our correspondent says. All charges were dropped in the case of Salim Ahmed Hamdan, accused of serving both as chauffeur and bodyguard to al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
Marine Col Dwight Sullivan, chief defence lawyer for the Guantanamo Bay trials, agreed that the latest verdict cast doubt on the entire system. Lawyers for Mr Hamdan said: "It was a victory for the rule of law and the law of war."
Legal limbo
The word "unlawful" has not been used in any of the other pending cases.
Marine Col Dwight Sullivan, chief defence lawyer for the Guantanamo Bay trials, said that the verdicts cast doubt on the entire system.
"We don't need any more evidence that it's a failure. This system should just stop," he told the Reuters news agency."We don't need any more evidence that it's a failure. This system should just stop," he told the Reuters news agency.
However, prosecution lawyers said that neither man was likely to be released from Guantanamo Bay, despite the judges' decisions.