A U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington has reserved judgment on whether it will get involved in the case of Omar Khadr, the only Canadian imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay.

Omar Khadr has been in jail in Guantanamo Bay since he was 15.
(Canadian Press)

No details were immediately available Tuesday about the court's decision.

Khadr's defence team had asked the court to consider a military court's decision to carry through with Khadr's murder trial at the U.S. base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Khadr, now 21, has been jailed at the detention centre on the base since 2002, when he was captured as a teenager by American soldiers in Afghanistan and accused of killing a U.S. soldier during a fierce firefight.

The U.S. government has insisted the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has no jurisdiction in the case until after Khadr has gone through a full trial before the military tribunal.

Justice Department lawyer John De Pue says military commission rules only provide the appeals court with exclusive jurisdiction to review any final judgment against Khadr.

But defence lawyer Karl Thompson has argued it's not even clear yet that the Toronto-born Khadr is an "unlawful" enemy combatant who should be standing trial.

With files from the Associated Press