GUANTANAMO BAY US NAVAL BASE, Cuba, Aug 26 (AFP) - An Al-Qaeda member who made propaganda films for Osama bin Laden said Thursday he would be forced to become a silent observer before a US warcrimes tribunal if he could not represent himself.
Ali Hamza Ahmad al Bahlul, a Yemeni, brought the first dramatic defiance to the controversial military commission process that began this week at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Bahlul, who faces charges of conspiracy to commit murder and terrorist attacks, told the hearing he had never recognised the military lawyers appointed to defend him.
"If the American system will not allow me to defend myself, then I will be forced to attend as a listener only," Bahlul told the tribunal through a translator.
The 36-year-old Yemeni refused to stand when the six military commission members, led by presiding officer Colonel Peter Brownback, entered the courtroom.
Brownback at one point stopped Bahlul from speaking as the Yemeni acknowledged that he was a member of Al-Qaeda and went on to give what he called a message to the "entire world" about "the relationship between me and September 11."
Several times, Brownback showed his frustration at Bahlul's demands by burying his head in his hands and eventually suspended proceedings to consider the events.
According to the military prosecution, Bahlul, 36, went from Yemen to Afghanistan in 1999 and, after military training, swore an oath of loyalty to bin Laden.
The official charges say that, in late 1999, bin Laden personally assigned Bahlul to the Al-Qaeda media office to produce training and recruitment videos.
Bin Laden also told Bahlul to "create a video glorifying" the attack on the USS Cole in Yemen in October 2000.
The charges said that, on September 11, 2001, bin Laden told Bahlul to set up a satellite connection so that he could see news reports, but he failed because of the mountainous terrain.
After the September 11 attacks, Bahlul had to get news reports on the attacks and "data concerning the economic damage caused by these attacks." Later, Bahlul served as a bodyguard for bin Laden.
There were new translation problems at the hearings, and the US military also acknowledged mistakes at related "enemy combatant" status tribunal hearings for the 585 Al-Qaeda and Taliban suspects held in a special camp at Guantanamo Bay.
The US military promised to reopen special tribunals where translation mistakes have been made, after two Arab television journalists watching combatant status review tribunals noticed what they called glaring mistakes in translations of statements made by a Saudi inmate.
Mohammed Alami, a correspondent for the Al-Jazeera television network, said that when the detainee explained that he went to Afghanistan for training but wanted to go on to Chechnya, "it came out as 'he went to Afghanistan for training but wanted to go on to join some kind of cult.'"
Nadia Charters of the Al Arabiya network said she was "shocked" by the standard of the translation.
A military spokesman told journalists "when questions occur as to the translation, the tribunal will be reconvened with another translator."
The spokesman added: "We are committed to showing that the process is fair" and added that there was an established process for certifying translators.