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.