Armed Conflict Criminal Justice & the Rule of Law Terrorism & Extremism

Hearing This Week in the Al Hadi Military Commissions Case

Wells Bennett
Monday, July 20, 2015, 12:00 PM

A whopping two weeks of court time earlier had been reserved for pre-trial motions in United States v. Abd al Hadi al Iraqi---but not all of it will be filled with proceedings in the Guantanamo courtroom. The military judge's docketing order doesn't suggest a marathon, for one thing, but instead only sets a few motions for oral argument and allows for the calendar to be adjusted in light of in-court progress.

Published by The Lawfare Institute
in Cooperation With
Brookings

A whopping two weeks of court time earlier had been reserved for pre-trial motions in United States v. Abd al Hadi al Iraqi---but not all of it will be filled with proceedings in the Guantanamo courtroom. The military judge's docketing order doesn't suggest a marathon, for one thing, but instead only sets a few motions for oral argument and allows for the calendar to be adjusted in light of in-court progress. For another, although the session was set to get underway this morning, at 0900, it nevertheless was paused: owing to recent prosecution disclosures to the defense, litigation on the record was pushed back until (it seems) Wednesday morning at the very earliest. All of which is to say: Stay tuned for more about developments in this military commissions case.

In the meantime, the Chief Prosecutor, Brig. Gen. Mark Martins, issued a statement in advance of this week's hearing; you can find a copy below.


Wells C. Bennett was Managing Editor of Lawfare and a Fellow in National Security Law at the Brookings Institution. Before coming to Brookings, he was an Associate at Arnold & Porter LLP.

Subscribe to Lawfare