A judge has delayed an upcoming hearing for five men accused of plotting the September 11 attacks due to suspicions that confidential defense emails were monitored, a lawyer said Wednesday. The next preliminary hearing had been set to take place on April 22 at the US military base at Guantanamo. It was now scheduled for June 17-21, according to a Pentagon spokesman. Lawyers for four of the accused had filed an emergency motion with presiding Judge Colonel James Pohl, seeking a delay in proceedings after revelations that defense emails and computer files had been compromised.

Lawyers for the five men accused of plotting the September 11 attacks asked a judge Thursday to delay an upcoming hearing after learning that emails with their clients had been monitored. The surveillance was only the latest instance of compromised confidentiality at Guantanamo Bay, following revelations earlier this year that secret censors could block a public feed of court proceedings and that listening devices masked as smoke detectors were hidden in meeting rooms.

Defense lawyers Monday lost a bid to suspend proceedings at Guantanamo against the suspected mastermind of the USS Cole attack over revelations of outside government censorship. The issue first arose last week in pre-trial hearings for five accused 9/11 plotters when Judge James Pohl disclosed that, without his knowledge, someone outside the court had cut an audiovisual feed of the proceedings after the subject of secret CIA prisons came up.

Defense lawyers Monday lost a bid to suspend proceedings at Guantanamo against the suspected mastermind of the USS Cole attack over revelations of outside government censorship. The issue first arose last week in pre-trial hearings for five accused 9/11 plotters when Judge James Pohl disclosed that, without his knowledge, someone outside the court had cut an audiovisual feed of the proceedings after the subject of secret CIA prisons came up.