Lawyers for a detainee at Guantanamo Bay issued an appeal to the D.C. Circuit Court to delay his war crimes trial. Omar Khadr, a 21-year-old Canadian, faces the war crimes tribunal sitting at Guantanamo Bay for the death of a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan. The appeal challenges the tribunal's authority to determine his combatant status and argues against the authority of the tribunal itself.
Khadr has been held at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba for the past five years. He was detained in Afghanistan for allegedly killing Sgt. Christopher Speer, an Army special forces soldier, and wounding another with a grenade.
On June 4, the U.S. Court of Military Commission Review under Army Col. Peter Brownback dismissed charges against Khadr. Brownback dismissed the charges because prosecutors had designated the two detainees as "enemy combatants." The tribunal established to handle Gauntanamo Bay cases was set up to try "unlawful enemy combatants," and Brownback contested that international law requires a different legal process for "legal enemy combatants." Officials reinstated the charges on Sept. 24.
The motion for a stay argues the Military Commission Review process should not proceed Thursday with its assessment of Khadr's status until the D.C. Circuit Court examines the challenge. The appeal argues the Military Commission Review was not legally appointed and therefore lacks the ability to make that assessment. It also argues that the tribunal is flawed because it declared war crimes triable by the court after the fact.
Lawyers for Khadr also challenge the MCR proceeding without his defense team present, or provided with the information used to make the assessment. His lawyers also argue the MCR declared it “will not entertain arguments based on international, constitutional, or criminal law.”
Lawyers for the Bush administration are urging the D.C. Circuit Court to dismiss the appeal say that civilian courts do not hold authority to intervene in a congressionally mandated military tribunal. The Bush administration says Khadr, and others, may challenge their prosecution, but only after the tribunal has issued its ruling.
