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Guantanamo Detainee's Trial on Hold
Judges suspends case involving alleged al-Qaida conspirator until Supreme Court renders a ruling on the military commissions
Carol Rosenberg
KNIGHT RIDDER
May 13, 2006
Siding with an enemy combatant over the Bush administration, a federal judge Friday ordered the Pentagon to suspend a Saudi captive's trial at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, until the U.S. Supreme Court rules next month on whether President Bush's military commissions are constitutional.
U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan rejected a Justice Department argument that a monthlong delay in the al-Qaida conspiracy case of Ghassan Sharbi, 31, "would imperil the war effort."
"The government has not explained, however, why the court must adhere to the laws of war now, rather than wait a few weeks so that it may follow the rule of law, as it will be determined by the Supreme Court," Sullivan said.
Sharbi, a 2000 graduate of EmbryRiddleAeronauticalUniversity in Prescott, Ariz., has been held at the Navy base's detention center since 2002. A Navy captain had scheduled a pretrial hearing in his al-Qaida conspiracy case next week.
He is accused of plotting to build car-bomb detonators in Pakistan and ship them to Afghanistan in March 2002.
Sharbi stunned observers last month at his first-ever military commission proceedings by declaring: "I'm going to make it easy for you guys: I fought against the United States. I took up arms."
Justice Department lawyers have characterized the first U.S. war crimes tribunals since World War II as a key component in the U.S. war-on-terror effort.
A Supreme Court challenge brought by a one-time driver for Osama bin Laden asserts that military commissions -- the way they were created by the Bush administration after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks -- are at odds with U.S. treaty obligations and time-honored U.S. legal safeguards.
The Bush administration says enemy combatants at GuantanamoBay don't get constitutional protections.
Robert Rachlin, a Vermont defense attorney for Sharbi, argued that, in advance of a Supreme Court ruling, the government was building a trial record against his client that could prejudice him, depending on what the justices decide.
"The harm to the petitioner is undoubtedly irreparable," the judge said.
"The court fails to see any prejudice ... by waiting for the Supreme Court's determination that its commission does not violate the Constitution."
In winning the stay, Sharbi becomes the fourth of 10 Guantanamo captives facing military commission charges whose cases have been frozen by the federal courts.
The others are Salim Ahmed Hamdan of Yemen, bin Laden's ex-driver, David Hicks of Australia and Ibrahim Qosi of Sudan.
Friday's ruling aside, a military commission is set to convene next week in Guantanamo in the case of another captive -- Abdul Zahir of Afghanistan.
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