Judge Finds President Obama's Order to Stay Gitmo Proceedings "Unpersuasive"

The night of President Obama’s inauguration — while he and First Lady Michelle Obama were hitting the inaugural ball circuit — an executive order arrived at Guantanamo ordering government prosecutors to request a 120-day stay on all proceedings there. Nearly all of the judges presiding over these cases granted the stay, but today we learned that one judge, Lt. Col. James Pohl, has denied the continuance, and arraignment is still scheduled for February 9 in the case of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, who’s accused of planning the 2000 U.S.S. Cole attack. The BBC reports:

Judge James Pohl said the request to halt the trial to allow a review by the new administration was “unpersuasive”.

Judge Pohl said that the trial of Mr Nashiri would go ahead.

Al-Nashiri is being represented by a team of military and civilian lawyers, including Nancy Hollander of the ACLU’s John Adams Project and Lt. Cmdr. Steven Reyes.

Stay tuned.