Judge stays case of bin Laden truck driver | Seattle P-I

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Judge stays case of bin Laden truck driver

By GENE JOHNSON
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

SEATTLE -- A federal judge on Tuesday delayed the case of a former truck driver for Osama bin Laden who argues that the U.S. government is holding him illegally at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik said it would be unwise to proceed with the case before the U.S. Supreme Court clarifies the jurisdictional issues involved.

Navy Lt. Cmdr. Charles Swift, who is representing the former bin Laden driver, filed suit in federal court here last month, alleging that President Bush's plan to try terrorism suspects by military tribunal is a violation of U.S. and international law.

His client, Salim Ahmad Hamdan, is one of six detainees the Bush administration has said it plans to try by tribunal. The lawsuit claims the government has violated Hamdan's rights by holding him without charges and that the tribunal system is an illegal expansion of executive branch powers.

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