[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit Tuesday issued a one-sentence ruling rejecting an appeal from Canadian Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr [JURIST news archive] challenging a US Court of Military Commission Review (CMCR) [DOD materials] decision to send Khadr's case back to a military tribunal. In June, a military commission judge dropped war crimes charges against Khadr as improper, but the charges were reinstated [JURIST reports] in September. Khadr filed his appeal with the DC Circuit in October after the CMCR refused to reconsider [JURIST reports] the reinstatement. Last month, US Department of Justice (DOJ) lawyers argued [motion, PDF; JURIST report] that the DC Circuit did not have jurisdiction to hear Khadr's appeal under the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (MCA) [S 3930 materials], which states that no civilian court can consider an appeal of a war crimes case until a military court has issued a final judgment on it. A military tribunal will now consider whether Khadr is simply an "enemy combatant," or whether he is an "unlawful enemy combatant" under the MCA and therefore subject to military trial.

Khadr was detained in Afghanistan in 2002 after allegedly throwing a grenade that killed one US soldier and wounded another while fighting with the Taliban. He is charged with murder, attempted murder, conspiracy and providing material support for terrorism, as well as spying. AP has more.