US military lawyers preparing charges for latest Guantanamo transferees News
US military lawyers preparing charges for latest Guantanamo transferees

[JURIST] The chief US prosecutor for the military tribunals [JURIST news archive] at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, told reporters Tuesday that his office has begun preparing charge sheets for the 14 high-profile terror suspects [DNI profiles, PDF] who have been transferred from secret CIA prisons to Guantanamo Bay [JURIST report]. Col. Moe Davis also reminded reporters that military lawyers are just beginning to work on the cases, and that the charge sheets should not be expected in the immediate future.

New charges against terror detainees cannot be filed in Guantanamo military commissions until Congress passes legislation to authorize the tribunals, given the June US Supreme Court ruling that the military commissions as initially constituted lacked proper legal authorization [JURIST report; Hamdan v. Rumsfeld text]. The White House sent Congress a military commissions bill [JURIST report] last week and two other proposed bills have been offered by members of Congress.

Among the terror suspects who were recently transferred to Guantanamo Bay is Khalid Sheik Mohammed [BBC profile], the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 terror attacks [JURIST report]. Reuters has more.