Obama seeks halt to Guantanamo trials

The US Department of Defence said today it would seek a 120-day halt to the war crimes trials at Guantanamo Bay, pending a review by President Barack Obama.

The government made the request in a motion late last night in the case of five men charged over the September 11 attacks.

A military judge is expected to rule on the request at a hearing today at the US Navy base in Cuba.

The two-page order said the “interests of justice” would be served by an immediate halt to the widely-criticised system for prosecuting suspected terrorists.

"The interests of justice served by granting the requested continuance outweigh the interests of both the public and the accused in a prompt trial,'' prosecutor Clay Trivett said on the motion.

Mr Trivett wrote that the motion was filed at the direction of the president and defence secretary Robert Gates.

The motion for a suspension came on the day a military judge adjourned the war crimes court just before Mr Obama was sworn in by noting the future of the commissions was in doubt.

The hearings were dismissed until today “unless otherwise ordered”.

Mr Obama has said he will close Guantanamo, where the US holds about 245 men, and had been expected to suspend the trials created by former president George Bush and the US Congress in 2006.

Mr Obama’s nominee for attorney general has said the so-called military commissions lack sufficient legal protections for defendants and that they could be tried in the US.