Guantanamo trial to go forward

NEW YORK, Nov. 8 (UPI) -- A military judge at Guantanamo Bay is allowing a military commission trial to proceed without a ruling that a defendant is an "unlawful enemy combatant."

Omar Khadr, 21, is a Canadian who has been in U.S. custody for more than five years since he was captured in Afghanistan as a 15 year old, where he allegedly killed a U.S. soldier with a grenade.

Human Rights Watch said in a statement that a defendant must meet the definition of an "unlawful enemy combatant" under the Military Commissions Act of 2006, but the judge, Col. Peter Brownback, has said he would proceed on the presumption that Khadr fits that profile.

However, he left open the possibility that defense counsel could later challenge the commission's jurisdiction, or authority to try Khadr.

Defense counsel challenged Brownback's impartiality.

The judge said he did not think the U.S. Supreme Court's 2006 ruling in Hamdan vs. Rumsfeld meant the court had struck down the military commission system. The defense said Brownback was misinterpreting the precedent.