GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba – A Pentagon official who oversees war-crimes trials at Guantanamo Bay has been barred for the second time from participating in a case because of alleged interference.

A military judge has ruled that Air Force Brig Gen. Thomas Hartmann, the legal adviser to the U.S. war-crimes trials, aligned himself too closely with prosecutors to provide impartial advice in the trial of a young Afghan detainee.

But Judge Steve Henley, an Army colonel, rejected a defense request Thursday to dismiss war crimes charges against Mohammed Jawad.

Hartmann has been the target of challenges by lawyers for several detainees since another judge removed him from the trial of Osama bin Laden's driver.