Blow to US as Gitmo charges dropped

Last Modified: 05 Jun 2007
By: PA Feed

Guantanamo judges drop cases against two alleged al-Qaeda figures.

Military judges have dismissed charges against a Guantanamo detainee who chauffeured Osama bin Laden and another who allegedly killed a US soldier in Afghanistan, marking a stunning setback to Washington's attempts to try detainees in military court.

In back-to-back arraignments for Canadian Omar Khadr and Salim Ahmed Hamdan, of Yemen, the US military's cases against the alleged al-Qaida figures dissolved because, the two judges said, the US government had failed to establish jurisdiction.

They were the only two of the approximately 380 prisoners at Guantanamo charged with crimes, and the rulings stand to complicate efforts by the United States to try other suspected al-Qaida and Taliban figures in military courts.

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