Washington —- Prosecutors who are preparing for a historic war crimes trial next week cleared a final hurdle Friday as attorneys for defendant Salim Hamdan accepted a federal judge's decision not to interfere.

Hamdan's Washington-based attorneys said they wouldn't appeal U.S. District Judge James Robertson's decision rejecting a proposed habeas corpus hearing that would have postponed the start of Hamdan's military commission trial. The trial is set to start Monday at the U.S. terrorism detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

At the same time, military prosecutors at Guantanamo agreed to comply with a military judge's directive that Hamdan's military attorney be allowed to interview the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks before Monday to determine whether Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has any testimony that might help Hamdan's case.

A military commission jury composed of five or more military officers and overseen by a military judge will try Hamdan, who has acknowledged that he served as Osama bin Laden's driver, but says he was only a paid employee, not a terrorist.

The Bush administration has charged Hamdan with conspiracy and providing material support for terrorism. Preliminary proceedings have been under way, but the trial is set to start Monday.

Hamdan's civilian attorneys, relying on a Supreme Court ruling last month that allowed Guantanamo detainees to file habeas corpus petitions, had asked Robertson to delay the military commission trial so Hamdan could file a habeas petition challenging U.S. claims that he's an unlawful enemy combatant as well as provisions of the military commission trials themselves. That process might have taken several months.

Robertson rejected that. "The disruption that would be caused by a last-minute delay of his trial would be significant," he wrote.