Report: Obama to reinstate military tribunals to try some terror suspects

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WASHINGTON, May 14 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack Obama will reinstate military commission trials to try terror suspects, with more rights for defendants than the former Bush administration's tribunals afforded, ABC News reported Thursday.

The administration will formally announce the plan for prosecutions Friday. Other terror suspects could be placed in the custody of other countries.

A White House source was quoted as saying that the greater protection afforded detainees will include banning evidence obtained through "cruel, inhuman, or degrading" interrogation techniques.

It will also add additional restrictions on the admissibility of hearsay evidence; allowing defendants greater leeway in choosing military counsel; protecting detainees from "adverse inference" if they do not testify at trial; and eliminating the effect of the combatant status review tribunal for purposes of jurisdiction under the Military Commissions Act.

When he was a senator, Obama supported establishing military commissions as the special venue to try terror suspects, though he voted against the version pushed by the Bush administration, which ultimately passed the Senate and was found unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.