WASHINGTON (AFP) - US military authorities suspended a military trial of a Saudi "war on terror" detainee after a US court ordered a stay until the Supreme Court rules on whether the trials are legal.

Hearings into the case of Ghassan Abdullah al Sharbi were scheduled to resume at the Guantanamo Bay naval base in Cuba, but were called off after a US judge granted his lawyers' request for a stay, a Pentagon spokeswoman said.

Judge Emmet Sullivan ruled Friday that the proceedings be halted until the Supreme Court issues a final decision in the case of another detainee, Salim Ahmed Hamdan, challenging the legality of the special military trials.

Sullivan reasoned that al-Sharbi would suffer "irreparable" harm if the commission proceedings went forward, while the government failed to show the harm of waiting until the Supreme Court decision in the Hamdan case.

"The government also claims that this brief delay would imperil the war effort," Sullivan wrote.

"The government has not explained, however, why the Court must adhere to the laws of war now, rather than wait a few weeks so that it may follow the rule of law, as it will be determined by the Supreme Court," he said.

Cynthia Smith, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said the court ruling pertained only to the al-Sharbi case and had no impact on the cases of any other detainee facing trial by military commission.

"It's one court ruling, one case," she said.

Al Sharbi is one of 10 detainees who have been charged under rules that were specially created to try "war on terror" suspects outside the jurisdiction of US courts.

At his first hearing before a military panel in Guantanamo last month, al-Sharbi denounced the tribunal as illegitimate but said he took up arms against the United States and would serve any sentence proudly.

Al Sharbi, who speaks fluent English, studied electrical engineering at Embry Riddle Aeronautics University in Arizona. Arrested in Pakistan in March 2002, he was accused of plotting to make remote controlled bombs for use against US forces in Afghanistan.