WASHINGTON: FBI agents have interviewed lawyers defending terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, forcing the judge to postpone the hearing, The New York Times reported on Saturday.

The agents appeared unannounced at the door of a member of the defence team and asked questions, although the lawyer was legally bound not to discuss the client’s defence with anyone.

They asked questions about the legal teams for Ramzi bin al-Shibh, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and other accused terrorists who will eventually stand trial before a military tribunal at Guantánamo. Before they left, the agents asked the contractor to sign an agreement promising not to tell anyone about the conversation.

The FBI’s inquiry became the focus of the pretrial hearings at Guantánamo this week, after the contractor disclosed it to the defence team.

Last year, as a lawyer for Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was speaking during another hearing, a red light began flashing.

Days later, the military judge, Col. James L. Pohl, announced that he had been told that an “original classification authority” — meaning the CIA — was secretly monitoring the proceedings. The judge got the devices disconnected.

After the defence’s claim that the FBI had interviewed their lawyers, the judge suspended preliminary hearings until Wednesday afternoon.

Judge Pohl rejected the prosecution’s request that the hearings proceed as scheduled.

At issue is an FBI investigation of how a manifesto by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, alleged mastermind of the World Trade Centre’s destruction, was given to media in January. Defence attorneys claim no classification restrictions were violated, and the FBI investigation of the defence lawyers has created a possible conflict of interest, preventing them from adequately serving their clients.

The defence teams of the five accused men contend they could not be certain other members of the teams were not approached by the FBI.