No third party has the right to suspend the broadcast of the military commission proceedings in the case against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the four men accused of planning the September 11 terror attacks, according to a ruling issued Thursday by the presiding judge at the Expeditionary Legal Compound in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Judge James Pohl ordered the government to disconnect facilities that can suspend or interrupt the broadcast and reaffirmed that he is the only person who should be able to close the court.  While it was not the first time the censor button has been used, Pohl said it was the last time a third party will, “unilaterally suspend the broadcast.”

It was one of the last rulings issued before the judge recessed the four-day pre-trial hearing until February 11. It also came in response to what was the most dramatic moment of the week.

The proceedings are broadcast on a 40-second delay over close-circuit television to prevent classified information from being made public.  On Monday, the court learned that a third party observes the proceedings and has the ability to hit a censor button that cuts the feed after sound was shut off and the judge said it wasn't by someone in the courtroom. 

Since the incident, there’s been little clarity over exactly who is monitoring the proceedings, where it’s being monitored from and whether that person has the right to censor the proceedings without the judge’s consent.

Defense attorney David Nevin also entered an emergency motion to halt the proceedings so they could “get to the bottom” of the courtroom monitoring and determine whether there was any way for attorneys to conduct confidential conversations with their clients in the courtroom without someone listening.

Army Brig. Gen. Mark Martins, the chief prosecutor, said the government would offer their response to that motion by next week.