Pentagon drops war crimes charges against 5 detainees

THE Pentagon said yesterday it has dropped war crimes charges against five Guantanamo Bay detainees after the former prosecutor in their cases complained that the military was withholding evidence helpful to the defence.

None of the men will be freed, and the military said it could reinstate charges later.

America’s first war crimes trials since the close of World War II have come under persistent criticism, including from officers appointed to prosecute them. Some of the harshest words came this month from the very man who was to prosecute the five men against whom charges were dropped.

Army Lt Col Darrel Vandeveld said during a pre-trial hearing for a sixth detainee this month that the war crimes trials are unfair. He said the military was withholding exculpatory evidence from the defence in that case, and was doing so in others.

He resigned over his concerns.

But the chief Guantanamo prosecutor, Army Col Lawrence Morris, said yesterday’s announcement was unrelated to Vandeveld’s accusations.

He said the charges were dismissed because evidence “is being more thoroughly analysed”.

Dismissing the charges allows the Pentagon to avoid deadlines that were set by the Military Commissions Act to bring the men to trial.

The detainees against whom charges were dropped are Binyam Mohamed, Noor Uthman Muhammed, Sufyiam Bar-houmi, Ghassan Abdullah al Sharbi and Jabran Said Bin al Qahtani.