In the first hours of his presidency, President Obama directed an immediate halt to the Bush administration’s military commissions system for prosecuting detainees at the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Notice of the decision came in a legal filing in Guantanamo by military prosecutors just before midnight Tuesday. The decision, which had been expected as part of Mr. Obama’s pledge to close the detention camp, was described as a pause in all war-crimes proceedings there so that the new administration can evaluate how to proceed with prosecutions.
Among other cases, the decision will temporarily stop the prosecution of five detainees charged as the coordinators of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, including the case against the self described mastermind, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.
Source: New York Times
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