WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 (UPI) -- The U.S. trial of a terror suspect at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba has been halted by a federal judge who said the Bush administration had overstepped its bounds.
U.S. District Judge James Robertson in Washington also said the administration had improperly bypassed the Geneva Conventions, the New York Times said.
The ruling brought an immediate halt to the pretrial proceedings at Guantanamo for Yemeni Salim Ahmed Hamdan, 34, a former driver for Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, who is facing terrorism charges.
In a 45-page ruling, Robertson said the administration could not under current circumstances try Hamdan before the military commissions set up shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, but could only bring him before a court-martial, where different rules of evidence apply.
Mark Corallo, a Justice Department spokesman, said in a statement, "By conferring protected legal status under the Geneva Conventions on members of al-Qaida, the judge has put terrorism on the same legal footing as legitimate methods of waging war."
