JURIST - Paper Chase: Pentagon dismisses charges against 5 Guantanamo detainees

[JURIST] The US Department of Defense announced Tuesday that the Office of Military Commissions Convening Authority has dismissed charges without prejudice [press release] against five Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainees. Noor Uthman Mohammed, Binyam Mohammed, Sufyiam Barhoumi, Ghassan Abdullah al Sharbi, and Jabran Said Bin al Qahtani remain in custody, and Chief Prosecutor Army Col. Lawrence Morris has appointed teams to consider whether to recharge each prisoner. Lawyers for Binyam Mohammed called the move a "farce" [Reprieve press release], reporting that they had been informed of plans to "charge [Mohammed] again within a month, after the election.” The detainees were each charged by former military prosecutor Army Lt. Col. Darrel Vandeveld, who resigned [JURIST report] last month citing "ethical qualms" with the military commissions' defense counsel discovery procedures. AP has more. The New York Times has additional coverage.

All five men were formally charged in May. Noor Uthman Mohammed, a Sudanese national, was charged [JURIST report] with conspiracy and providing material support for al Qaeda in Afghanistan. UK resident Binyam Mohammed [Reprieve profile; JURIST news archive] was charged with conspiracy to commit terrorism and has been engaged in a battle with the British government after suing [JURIST report] for access to evidence related to his alleged extraordinary rendition [JURIST news archive] and torture. Algerian Barhoumi and al Sharbi and al Qahtani of Saudi Arabia were charged [JURIST report] with conspiracy and providing material support for terrorism based on their alleged involvement with an al Qaeda bomb-making group in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

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