U.S. lawyer hopeful on Sudan Gitmo detainees

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Two Sudanese detainees facing military trials in Guantanamo Bay are "good candidates for repatriation," a U.S. military lawyer who represents one of them said in Khartoum Thursday.

A team of U.S. lawyers representing the detainees has been in Sudan since last week meeting the families of the remaining prisoners and former inmates ahead of an expected decision by U.S. President Barack Obama's administration on the fate of pending cases in military trials in Guantanamo.

Since taking office in January, Obama has ordered the closure of the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay military base in Cuba.

He has also ordered Guantanamo prosecutors to seek 120-day delays in all pending cases to give his administration time to decide whether to scrap the widely criticized tribunals created by the Bush administration to try suspected terrorists outside the regular U.S. court system.

The decision is expected on May 20, said Suzanne Lachelier, one of four lawyers who made up the team in Sudan. One of the attorneys was a civilian lawyer, since only two of the three detainees have pending military tribunals.

"I don't think they have any evidence. These are good cases for repatriation, regardless of what you might think of the evidence," Lachelier, who represents Ibrahim al-Qousy, told Reuters after a news conference in Khartoum.

"A trial of al-Qousy would be embarrassing to the United States."

The charges against Qousy include material support for terrorism and conspiracy to commit terrorism.

There have been 12 Sudanese detainees in Guantanamo, of whom only three remain. Of those freed, the most high profile was Sudanese-born Sami al-Haj, then a cameraman for Al Jazeera television, who was released without charge last year.

He is now a producer in its freedoms and human rights programs department.

Lachelier, who has been representing Qousy since March 2008, said once the decision was taken to repatriate the inmates, it could be a matter of weeks until they return back to Sudan.

(Reporting by Yara Bayoumy; Editing by Richard Balmforth)