The former driver for Osama bin Laden
pleaded not guilty to terrorism-related charges as the first trial under US
President George W Bush's controversial military commissions got under way
Monday in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Salim Hamdan, a Yemeni national, has been charged with conspiracy and providing
material support for terrorism, and faces a maximum sentence of life in prison
if convicted. The trial is the first US military war tribunal since World War
II.
Hamdan is alleged to have served as bin Laden's driver and bodyguard before his
capture in 2001 and transfer to the US detention centre at the naval station in
Cuba the following year.
Hamdan alleges he was abused during intense interrogations while in US custody, and has been among the most active Guantanamo detainees challenging the legal process in
federal court, including in a key ruling by the US Supreme Court in June 2006
that President Bush's commissions were unconstitutional and violated the Geneva
Conventions.
The decision forced the White House to revamp the process and get congressional
approval, which took place several months later.
Hamdan's trial is seen as the first test of the military commissions since they
were established by Bush more than six years ago. The Pentagon has charged 20
detainees, and that number is expected to climb to 80 of the 270 detainees who
remain locked up at Guantanamo.
Human rights groups have said that the tribunals do not provide the detainees
with the rights afforded by US civilian courts and are designed to produce
convictions.
"These are second-class trials to which the US government would not
subject its own nationals," Amnesty International said Friday.
The defendants have military-appointed attorneys and are permitted to seek
private counsel. The US military maintains the trials are fair because
defendants are allowed to summon witnesses to testify on their behalf, and have
access to all of the evidence prosecutors display in court.
The trial of the alleged mastermind of the September 11, 2001, terrorist
attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and four other defendants in the death penalty
cases could get under way as early as September. Mohammed declared during a
hearing in June that he wanted to be martyred.
Australian David Hicks is the only suspect convicted under the tribunals. He
pleaded guilty, was allowed to serve nine months in jail in his home country
and has since been freed.
The US military believes that Hamdan aided al-Qaeda and the Taliban on the
battlefield in Afghanistan by transporting weapons, and that he helped bin
Laden escape a cordon of US forces in December 2001 during the battle in Tora
Bora, dpa reported.
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