The US Supreme Court [official website] on Monday denied certiorari [order list, PDF] in a case involving the 2000 Cole attack, leaving intact the decision [text, PDF] of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit [official website] that the military trial of Abd al Rahim al-Nashiri may proceed.

Al-Nashiri made his first court appearance [JURIST report] in November 2011 after he was captured in Dubai in 2002. Nashiri is charged with war crimes relating to the bombing of the USS Cole, the bombing of the MV Limburg in 2002 and a failed plot to attack an American warship named “The Sullivans” in 2000. al-Nashiri has alleged that he faced multiple forms of torture during interrogation after capture.

Last year, the DC Circuit refused to halt [JURIST report] al-Nashiri’s trial after he challenged the authority of a military commission in Guantanamo Bay hearing his case, stating that al-Nashiri’s challenge would have to wait until after his trial. Al-nashiri had expressed fear that he may not receive a fair hearing from a military court. However, the DC Circuit rejected that claim as unsubstantiated and stated that the military commission is more than capable of determining whether al-Nashiri was captured outside the context of hostilities. This request for Supreme Court review followed.

In March, US Air Force Colonel Vance Spath, the judge presiding over the USS Cole bombing case, announced plans [JURIST report] to set a 2018 trial date for the case anticipating that it will take months to seat a jury. As of now, the trial date has still not been scheduled [NYT report].