THE Bush Administration suffered a serious setback in its efforts to prosecute suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay after a federal court yesterday halted proceedings in the case of Osama bin Laden’s driver.

In a ruling that threw the future of the entire military tribunal process at Guantanamo Bay into doubt, a federal court in Washington ordered the hearings involving bin Laden’s former chauffeur, Salim Ahmed Hamdan, to be suspended, on the ground that he may be unlawfully held.

It was the first time that a civilian court has halted the proceedings involving the controversial military tribunals.

The Guantanamo hearing that was suspended yesterday was a pre-trial “combatant status review tribunal”, hurriedly devised by the Bush Administration as its answer to a Supreme Court ruling in June.

The federal ruling opens up the prospect that all detainees, including the four Britons still held at Guantanamo, may never face military tribunals if civilian courts rule that they have been unlawfully held.

The US Justice Department announced plans to appeal. “We vigorously disagree with the court’s decision and will seek an emergency stay of the ruling and immediately appeal,” a spokesman said.

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