by Tim Witcher
GUANTANAMO BAY US NAVAL BASE, Cuba, Aug 24 (AFP) - A driver for Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden appeared before a military commission here Tuesday at the start of the first military trials arising from the US war on terror.
Salim Ahmed Hamdan was the first of four Al-Qaeda and Taliban suspects at the Guantanamo Bay US Naval Base in Cuba who will be arraigned at hearings this week. Australian inmate David Hicks is to appear on Wednesday.
The double doors to the commission room opened and Hamdan, a 34-year-old Yemeni, appeared smiling, wearing traditional clothing and a Western jacket, and walked to his seat next to his military lawyer.
Hamdan, clean shaven except for a moustache, and with short hair, did not have the shackles that the 585 Guantanamo detainees are forced to wear. But three soldiers sat behind him. The commission building has been surrounded by intense security.
He joked with his military lawyer, Lieutenant Commander Charlie Swift, before the commission was sworn in and Swift started making challenges to the legality of the hearing.
Swift questioned several parts of the military procedures setting up the commissions, which are being used for the first time in more than 50 years.
He also questioned whether Colonel Peter Brownback, who is effectively the presiding judge, would not have an undue influence on the other five members of the panel.
Brownback, who has come out of retirement as a military judge to head the tribunal, insisted that each member of the panel would get an equal vote.
None of the four inmates in this week`s hearings will face the death penalty, but they could be jailed for life if found guilty.
Hamdan, whose defence team is also leading a legal battle against the commissions in US civilian courts, was told the general nature of the charges: that he conspired with bin Laden and other Al-Qaeda leaders to attack civilians, commit murder and terrorism and destroy property.
But he was not asked to make a plea.
Swift has said the Yemeni admits being bin Laden`s driver but denies being a member of Al-Qaeda or taking part in any of the planning for attacks carried out by the terrorist network.
Hamdan was detained, along with Hicks and most of the 585 inmates of Camp Delta, in Afghanistan in late 2001.
According to the charges, Hamdan met bin Laden in the Afghan city of Kandahar in 1996 and became his bodyguard and driver.
The military says he delivered weapons to Al-Qaeda members, purchased the vehicles used to transport the Al-Qaeda leader and drove bin Laden around Afghanistan at the time of both the attacks on US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in August 1998 and the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
Swift has said Hamdan was a pilgrim heading for Tajikistan when he met bin Laden and worked on the Al-Qaeda leader`s farm to earn money for his family.
The United States is using military commissions for the first time since 1948 and the process has been strongly criticised by some defence lawyers and legal and human rights activists.
Swift said before the hearing that he will try to get the charges dismissed or persuade the commission to wait until US courts have had a chance to rule on the legality of the military courts before the next stage in the legal proceedings begins.
Swift said US government lawyers had promised that Hamdan would get a chance to challenge his status as an "enemy combatant" before his military trial went ahead.
But Hamdan has not yet appeared before one of the military`s Combatant Status Review Tribunals.
US military legal experts have insisted the inmates will get a fair trial in which they can call witnesses and their guilt has to be proved "beyond a reasonable doubt".
But rights groups and civilian experts have strongly criticised the hearings.
Neal Sonnett of the American Bar Association welcomed changes to the military commission`s procedures in recent months but added: "We still believe there are fatal flaws."