Military judge rules against key Guantanamo figure: paper

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. military judge has disqualified a Pentagon general who has been a key figure in Guantanamo war crimes tribunals from playing any role in the first case headed for trial, The New York Times reported on Saturday,

Navy Capt. Keith Allred ruled that Brig. Gen. Thomas Hartmann of the Air Force Reserve was too closely allied with the prosecution. Hartmann, a senior Pentagon official in the Office of Military Commissions which runs the war crimes system, was ordered to have no further role in the first prosecution slated for trial this month, the Times reported.

"National attention focused on this dispute has seriously called into question the legal adviser's ability to continue to perform his duties in a neutral and objective manner," Allred wrote on Friday, saying he could not find that Hartmann "retains the required independence from the prosecution."

The Times said it obtained a copy of the decision, which has not yet been publicly released.

Pentagon spokesman Cmdr. Jeffrey Gordon of the Navy declined to comment, saying only that Defense Department officials were reviewing it, the newspaper reported.

Hartmann also would not speak about the ruling, and his spokeswoman did not respond to requests for comment.

Military defense lawyers told the Times they expected the issue would be raised in other cases and possibly delay prosecutions, including the death-penalty cases of six detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for the September 11 attacks.

Hartmann, officially a legal adviser to Susan Crawford, a key Pentagon official overseeing the war crimes system, was at the center of a sharp dispute involving the former chief Guantanamo military prosecutor, Col. Morris Davis of the Air Force, the Times report said.

Davis has said the general interfered with the military prosecution office, pushed for closed-door proceedings and favored relying on evidence obtained through techniques which critics call torture.

Pentagon officials can still ask the judge to reconsider, appeal to a special military appeals court created to hear Guantanamo cases or could replace Hartmann, the Times said. (Reporting by Chris Michaud, editing by Jackie Frank)