The trial of Ahmed Salim Hamdan, a 43-year-old former driver for al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, was to have started at the U.S. detention camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on Dec. 7.

But a Defense Department spokesman said the trial has been postponed while the Pentagon appeals a federal court ruling that Hamdan should be given prisoner-of-war protection under the Geneva Convention.

The ruling on Hamdan's case by the U.S. District Court in Washington on Nov. 8 is expected to have repercussions for all of the approximately 550 detainees held at Guantanamo.

Judge James Robertson said the alleged al-Qaeda member should appear before a formal court-martial hearing rather than one of the controversial military commissions set up by the U.S. administration after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Robertson said the Yemeni detainee should be given the protection of the Geneva Convention until a "competent tribunal" can rule whether he is a POW.

The Japan Times Weekly: Nov. 20, 2004
(C) All rights reserved