U.S. says seeking 60-day delay in Guantanamo trials

Flags fly above the sign for Camp Justice, the site of the U.S. war crimes tribunal compound, at Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base in Cuba July 15, 2009, in this photo, reviewed by the U.S. military.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration said on Wednesday it would seek a two-month delay for all military trials for terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay while Congress weighs new rules for the proceedings and the White House considers trying them in U.S. courts.

President Barack Obama is trying to close the prison, with plans to try some of the foreign terrorism suspects in military commissions and others in federal courts in the United States. The prison at a U.S. naval base in Cuba currently holds 226 detainees.

The military trials have been on hold since Obama announced soon after taking office in January that he planned to close the prison by January 2010. About 10 cases are pending before military judges. The administration had faced a deadline of Thursday to decide whether to seek another delay.

One detainee, accused September 11 plotter Ramzi Binalshibh, asked a U.S. appeals court in Washington to halt his military trial on the grounds that it was unconstitutional. Justice Department attorneys opposed it, but at the same time told the court about the planned delay.

They said they were seeking a 60-day delay in the case because the rules for the military trials may be substantially changed by legislation that Congress is considering.

Congress is weighing overhauling the procedure for military commissions established under former President George W. Bush, including Obama's request to bar statements made under harsh interrogation and make it more difficult to use hearsay evidence.

Department attorneys said a decision also might be made within 60 days on whether to prosecute Binalshibh in a U.S. federal court, instead of in the military tribunal.

They cited the upcoming decisions by Attorney General Eric Holder, in consultation with Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, on where the Guantanamo detainee cases will be prosecuted.

HEARING

Justice Department attorneys also said that Binalshibh's complaints of constitutional defects in the military proceedings were "without merit" and that he could bring the challenge in the appeals court only after any trial had taken place.

Binalshibh has been charged with being a go-between for senior al Qaeda leaders and the September 11 hijackers.

He was caught in Pakistan in September 2002 and held by the Central Intelligence Agency for four years before being handed over to the Defense Department and sent to Guantanamo Bay.

A military judge has scheduled a September 21 hearing at Guantanamo to determine whether Binalshibh is mentally competent to stand trial and to represent himself.

The Justice Department attorneys said the military judge would be asked to grant a 60-day delay in the hearing.

Separately, in Congress, FBI Director Robert Mueller said he saw little problem with imprisoning terrorism detainees from Guantanamo at maximum security facilities in the United States, an issue several Republicans have raised.

"In most federal prisons there's very, very little risk," Mueller told a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing.

"My expectation is that, when you're bringing persons from overseas who were involved in terrorism they will be given top priority" to be jailed in a way that they do not pose a wider risk or affect the prison population, he said.

Mueller also rejected concerns from Republican Senator Jeff Sessions about U.S. military personnel telling terrorism suspects captured on the battlefield of their rights under U.S. law on the chance that they are prosecuted in U.S. courts.

The FBI director said that most of those captured in Iraq and Afghanistan by U.S. forces were not told their rights and the issue was not interfering with U.S. troops' ability to do their job.

(Editing by Alison Williams)