Military judge denies motion to allow television broadcast of Guantanamo trial

Jurist

A military judge ruled [order, PDF] Monday that he lacks authority to allow media to broadcast the trial of accused USS Cole [Navy backgrounder] bomber Abd al-Rahim Nashiri [NYT profile; JURIST news archive]. Al-Nashiri's defense lawyers moved [JURIST report] in July for the trial to be televised because there is a public interest in viewing the trial and seeing potential issues with the judicial process. Military Judge James Pohl, however, said in his order dismissing the defense's motion that Rule of Military Commissions 806(c) [text] expressly forbids "video and audio recording and taking of photographs ... in the courtroom,"...