Guantanamo terror tribunals resume after 14-month break

Jan 12, 2006, 10:18 GMT

Washington - An alleged Osama bin Laden bodyguard boycotted a U.S. military tribunal Wednesday as preliminary hearings for terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay prison resumed after a 14-month break.

Ali Hamza Ahmed Sulayman al Bahlul, a Yemeni charged with conspiracy to commit terrorism, lashed out against U.S. support for Israel and told a U.S. military judge he would refuse to cooperate with the proceedings, the U.S. Defence Department said.

Al Bahlul refused to be represented by U.S. lawyers, civilian or military, a Pentagon statement said. But military judge Peter Brownback turned down al Bahlul's request to defend himself, leaving the case at an impasse.

The United States alleges that Al Bahlul made propaganda videos for al-Qaeda and in 2001 served as bin Laden's bodyguard, wearing an explosives belt to provide security for the al-Qaeda leader.

Also Wednesday, Canadian teenager Omar Khadr, charged with murdering a U.S. soldier while resisting capture in Afghanistan in 2002, faced his first preliminary hearing at the U.S. base on Cuba.

Khadr, 19, is the son of Ahmad Said Khadr, an Egyptian-born immigrant who was a close associate of bin Laden and channelled money to al-Qaeda through his Canada-based charity, the United States alleges.

The elder Khadr was killed in an October 2003 anti-terrorism raid by Pakistani forces in Waziristan province.

Omar Khadr received al-Qaeda training in weapons and explosives, and threw a grenade during the July 2002 firefight in which he was captured, killing a U.S. sergeant, according to the U.S. charges.

Legal issues in both men's cases have been resolved to the U.S. military's satisfaction, clearing the way for Wednesday's hearings, Pentagon spokesman Maj. Michael Shavers said.

Human rights groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union have questioned the legality of the tribunals, formally known as military commissions, in part because evidence against suspects can be kept secret.

The U.S. insists that all defendants will get a fair trial. About a dozen hearings have been held at Guantanamo since August 2004, but no one has gone on trial.

The United States is holding about 500 men at Guantanamo as 'enemy combatants' in the war on terrorism, launched after the September 11 suicide plane attacks on New York and Washington that killed nearly 3,000 people.

Most Guantanamo inmates were captured in Afghanistan and Iraq. Most have been held for four years and have not been charged.