( dpa ) - The US military has charged a Guantanamo Bay detainee suspected as serving as Osama bin Laden's bodyguard with conspiring to commit murder and carry out attacks against civilians.
The charges announced by the Pentagon Tuesday accuse Ali Hamza Ahmad Suliman al-Bahlul of seeking to violate the laws of war, destruction of property, terrorism and providing material support to terrorists.
Al-Bahlul, a 39-year-old Yemeni, faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
The military alleges that al-Bahlul went to Afghanistan in 1999 to join al-Qaeda. He attended a training camp and went on to serve as bin Laden's media director, including making a propaganda video about the 1999 bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen.
Al-Bahlul allegedly also researched the economic effects of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and armed himself to protect bin Laden.