Osama bin Laden’s chauffeur was formally charged today before a court at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp in the first US war cimes tribunal since the Second World War.
Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a 34-year-old Yemeni, wore headphones to hear an interpreter and asked for the charges against him to be repeated. He appeared to chuckle after charges of war crimes conspiracy were explained a second time.
Mr Hamdan admits earning a pittance for his family as Osama bin Laden’s driver prior to the September 11 attacks, but denies involvement in terrorism. The Pentagon says that he was the al-Qaeda leader’s bodyguard and delivered weapons to his fighters.
Images of the hearing in Cuba appeared blurry on closed-circuit television, and with a five-minute delay.
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The bearded detainee smiled as he appeared without handcuffs or shackles, wearing a flowing white robe and a tan suit jacket with a long shawl over his shoulders.
The pre-trial hearing was the first such tribunal proceedings since 1942, when eight Germans were convicted of sneaking into New York by submarine to commit sabotage. Six were executed.
Today’s five-member commission allows for secret evidence and no federal appeals.
Mr Hamdan’s defence lawyer quickly set about questioning the validity of the proceedings, and the possible bias of the judges.
Lieutenant Commander Charlie Swift asked the presiding officer to clear the court while he questioned one judge’s qualifications and motives.
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“I thought I was good at it, and knowing the stresses and constraints brought on our military ... and recognising retired people could serve, I volunteered,” said US Army Colonel Peter E Brownback, a retired military judge.
Before the hearing started, Mr Swift issued a statement saying that he planned to ask that the charges be dismissed, since the commissions were going ahead without giving his client an opportunity to contest his status as an “enemy combatant” - a classification which gives fewer legal protections than prisoner of war.
“Mr Hamdan has languished in solitary confinement without good cause for more than eight months awaiting a hearing,” Mr Swift said in his statement. Hamdan is among six prisoners held in isolation cells awaiting the tribunal.
Mr Swift has filed a lawsuit in US civilian courts alleging that the commissions violate US and international law.
The Pentagon alleges that Mr Hamdan, who is also known as Saqr al-Jaddawi, was bin Laden’s driver and bodyguard in Afghanistan between February 1996 and November 2001.
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They say he transported weapons to al-Qaeda operatives, trained at an al-Qaeda camp and drove in convoys that carried bin Laden.
Yemeni security officials say that Mr Hamdan was a member of Islamic Jihad, an Egyptian militant group which merged with organisations led by Mr bin Laden to form al-Qaeda in 1998.
Mr Swift says that Mr Hamdan was a pilgrim who took a job at bin Laden’s farm on his way to Tajikistan in 1996 or 1997, that he had no knowledge of bin Laden’s activities and he never took up arms against the United States.
Court documents show that Mr Hamdan has complained of his treatment since his arrest.
“I have not been permitted to see the sun or hear other people outside ... or talk with other people. I am alone except for a guard,” he said in February.
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“One month is like a year here, and I have considered pleading guilty in order to get out of here.”
Human rights groups have questioned whether the commissions ordered by President Bush will be fair, as he has repeatedly has called the men “terrorists”.
Mr Hamdan and three others being charged this week face life in prison, though some defendants could face the death penalty. The pretrial hearings are expected to last four days, but it could be months before the actual commissions begin.
Two others charged with conspiracy are Ali Hamza Ahmad Sulayman al-Bahlul, 33, also of Yemen, and Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al-Qosi, born in 1960, both said to be bin Laden bodyguards.
The fourth, David Hicks, 29, of Australia, faces charges of conspiracy to commit war crimes as well as aiding the enemy, and attempted murder for allegedly firing at US or coalition forces in Afghanistan.