Obama Administration Wins Another Delay in Military Commission Case « The Washington Independent

Ahmed al Darbi, the brother-in-law of one of the 9/11 hijackers, supposedly plotted a never-realized 2001-2002 attack on an unnamed ship in the Strait of Hormuz. He also allegedly met Osama bin Laden and trained at an al-Qaeda camp. And he’s been imprisoned by the U.S. military since 2003 waiting to be tried on the charges.

On Wednesday, a military judge yielded to the Obama administration’s request to put off Darbi’s trial once again, postponing till January Darbi’s opportunity to present his defense.

Darbi claims the evidence against him consists of statements elicited through beatings, threats of rape, sleep and sensory deprivation, and sexual humiliation, first at the Bagram air base in Afghanistan and then at the prison camp in Guantanamo Bay.

If he’s convicted as an al-Qaeda conspirator, Darbi, 34, could face life in prison.

This is the third time the Obama administration has won a delay in Darbi’s trial on charges of a crime he allegedly committed 9 years ago. The administration has sought to delay all military commission trials while it decides whether it should proceed with the cases in military court, drop the charges or shift them to federal civilian courts.

The Washington Post reports today that President Obama’s Guantanamo policy is in some disarray, as the administration has faced more obstacles than it expected in shutting down the detention center and deciding what to do with the 220 or so detainees still imprisoned there.