SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — The prosecution of five Guantanamo Bay prisoners accused of orchestrating the Sept. 11 attacks will go on — for now — with eight charges against each of the men, the Pentagon said Friday.

A Department of Defense legal official declined a prosecution request to withdraw the charge of conspiracy, which faced a likely challenge because of an appeal's court ruling in a separate case.

Convening Authority Bruce McDonald, a retired admiral and former Navy judge advocate general, said it was too soon to withdraw conspiracy because the ruling in the separate case might also ultimately be reversed.