JURIST - Paper Chase: US seeking 60-day delay in Guantanamo military trials

[JURIST] The Obama administration on Wednesday sought a two-month delay [brief, PDF] in trials for detainees at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] while new options are considered. While trials have been on hold since President Barack Obama announced the planned closure of Guanatanamo [JURIST report] in January, the government declared its intention in a filing with the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in the case of Ramzi bin al-Shibh [JURIST news archive], a Guantanamo detainee who has been held since 2002. The government filed a brief in response to a motion to stay proceedings and a petition [texts, PDF] to rule the Military Commissions Act of 2006 [text, PDF] unconstitutional [JURIST report] filed by al-Shibh's lawyers. One of the options being considered by the administration to handle the cases of the more than 200 detainees still at Guantanamo is moving the trials to federal court [Washington Post report], an option that is also being considered for al-Shibh.

While the Obama administration decides what to do with Guantanamo detainees who are under investigation or who have been charged with crimes, a number of former detainees are being relocated around the globe. On Wednesday, Hungary said that it would select one Guantanamo detainee [JURIST report] to be relocated who is not under investigation by the US, and who cannot return to his home country. Earlier this month, three Chinese Uighur Muslims agreed [JURIST report] to be relocated to the Pacific island nation of Palau. In late August, Portugal accepted two Syrian nationals , and five other EU members agreed [JURIST reports] to give serious consideration to receiving former detainees.