Lawyers for terror suspect seek to halt trial

Lawyers representing Osama bin Laden’s former driver asked a federal judge Thursday to halt his fast-approaching military trial so they can continue challenging the legality of the military commission system.

Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a Yemeni held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has been fighting his detention in federal court since 2004.

Declared an enemy combatant by a military tribunal, Hamdan is scheduled to go to trial before a military commission on July 21.

He would be the first terrorism suspect tried in the commissions, which were established by Congress in 2006.

In papers filed Thursday, Hamdan’s lawyers asked U.S. District Judge James Robertson to delay the military process, saying Hamdan should be allowed to contest his detention in federal court first.

Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that suspected terrorists at Guantanamo had the right to challenge their detentions before federal judges.

“The entire system now needs to be reworked, and we’re asking the judge to create enough time to permit that process to unfold instead of rushing a dubious process forward,” said Neal Katyal, a lawyer representing Hamdan.

Justice Department spokesman Erik Ablin said in an e-mail: “Our position is that the military commission proceedings are constitutional.”

The Supreme Court’s recent decision “did nothing to affect military commission trials, and the commission trials should go forward without interruption,” he said.