[JURIST] The Obama administration is considering transferring more Guantanamo Bay detainees to the US, according to testimony [schedule] Friday by US Defense Department General Counsel Jeh Charles Johnson [official profile] to the the House Armed Services Committee [official website]. Some detainees could be transferred for long-term incarceration and others for prosecution, but none would be released domestically. Guantanamo Bay detainee Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani [JURIST news archive] was transferred [JURIST report] to New York in June to face criminal charges for alleged involvement in the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya which killed 224 people. In a related development Friday, the Department of Justice petitioned the US District Court for the District of Columbia [official websites] for permission to continue to detain Mohammed Jawad [ACLU materials; JURIST news archive] while the department determines if he can be tried in a US-based federal court on criminal charges.

Johnson and Assistant Attorney General for National Security David Kris [official profile] urged Congress to pass proposed reforms to the Military Commissions Act of 2006 [text, PDF; JURIST news archive] and detainee policy. Both men faced criticism for failing to deliver a detailed plan on closing the Guantanamo Bay detainee facilities. Earlier this week their taskforce delayed release [JURIST news report] of a report on the matter after failing to meet a six-month reporting deadline, and instead presented an interim report [text, PDF; prosecution protocol, PDF].