WASHINGTON —  The Pentagon may put it in writing: no evidence obtained through torture can be used when suspected terrorists go on trial at Guantanamo Bay.

A senior spokesman said Wednesday that Pentagon officials believed until now that a written rule wasn't necessary because military prosecutors had already declared such evidence inadmissible. Bryan Whitman also reiterated the Pentagon policy that bans torture, although critics say some of the interrogation methods used at the Guantanamo lockup amount to torture.

Ten detainees now face terrorism charges before U.S. military tribunals. Theirs will be the first such hearings since the aftermath of World War II. Most of them were captured in Afghanistan after the U.S. assault on Al Qaeda and the Taliban following the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.