A hearing for a Muslim army chaplain once suspected of espionage but now charged with little more than mishandling classified documents at the US base at Guantanamo Bay ground to a halt today amid accusations that the military was withholding evidence, hiding witnesses and jeopardizing the right to a fair trial.
Lawyers for Capt. James Yee, who was arrested in September and charged with taking government materials without proper security locks out of Guantanamo in Cuba, said normal military procedures were not being followed in the case.
"Trial by ambush. I believe that is what has happened in this case," Mr Eugene Fidell, one of Yee's civilian defence lawyers, told reporters during an impromptu press conference at this army base about 100 miles (160 km) southwest of Atlanta.
Mr Fidell said the military's inability and refusal to make some evidence and witnesses available to the defense and its attempts to hold some legal discussions in private could violate Captain Yee's constitutional right to a fair and speedy trial.
Col Dan Trimble, the investigating officer presiding over Mr Yee's hearing, which will decide if he faces a court martial, adjourned proceedings to give authorities a chance to meet defense lawyers' requests.
Prosecutors said they were trying to expedite the disclosure of documents, some of which may be considered classified.
The delay came one day after prosecutors began laying out their case against Mr Yee, who was held in a Navy brig for more than two months following his arrest on September 10th at a naval air station in Jacksonville, Florida.