Obama bid to halt Guantanamo trials

War crimes trials at Guantanamo have been halted pending a review by Barack Obama

Newly-installed President Barack Obama wasted no time in getting down to business after his administration requested a halt to controversial military trials at Guantanamo Bay.

Hours after his historic inauguration as the first black president of the United States, Obama appeared to quickly honour his vow to act over the terror-suspect holding camp in Cuba.


He has previously said he will close Guantanamo, home to widely criticised war-crimes trials created by former President George Bush and Congress in 2006.

The suspension request came from the US Department of Defence, which said it was seeking a 120-day halt to the war crimes trials at the camp pending a review by President Obama.

His new team put the brakes on all pending regulations that the Bush regime tried to push through in its last days. That order went out shortly after Mr Obama's inauguration on Tuesday, in a memorandum signed by new White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel.

Aides had previously suggested that the new Commander-in-Chief would immediately launch into the job, with a raft of policy announcements expected by the end of the week.

An announcement on the actual closure of Guantanamo Bay has been put forward as an early contender for policy actions.

The US military currently has charges pending against 21 men at Guantanamo and officials have said they intended to charge dozens more.

Pre-trial hearings in two cases - the trial of five men charged in the 9/11 attacks and Omar Khadr, a Canadian accused of killing a US soldier in Afghanistan - were due to take place this week.