WASHINGTON - Lawyers for the US government Thursday asked an appeals court to allow the trial of Osama bin Laden's driver to proceed before a military commission in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The trial of Yemeni national Salim Hamdan has been on hold since December, when a US District Court judge in Washington declared the process illegal and said Hamdan had a right to prisoner-of-war status.
Hamdan, 35, was captured in Afghanistan in late 2001 and has been held at Guantanamo since early 2002. He is accused of plotting with bin Laden and other Al-Qaeda members to attack civilians, destroy property and commit terrorist acts.
Assistant Attorney General Peter Keisler argued that Judge James Robertson did not have the authority to declare illegal the military commissions set up by President George W. Bush to try suspected Al-Qaeda members, and said the judge's December 8 decision was premature.
"There's no question that the military has jurisdiction over Mr. Hamdan," Keisler told a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals, adding that US federal courts do not have the authority to decide whether someone should be considered a prisoner of war.
"The place where that is decided is a military commission."
Hamdan's lawyers however argued that the trials ordered by Bush in November 2001 were illegal under US law.
"We assert here that Mr. Hamdan has no right to be charged before the military commission," Georgetown University law professor Neal Katyal argued.
"This is not a system of law. This is a system of ad hoc procedures crafted at will," he said outside the courtroom.
Hamdan admits being bin Laden's driver, but denies being an Al-Qaeda member or participating in terrorist activities, his lawyers said.
He is one of four people charged as "unlawful combatants." The others are Australian David Hicks, another Yemeni and a Sudanese national accused of being bin Laden's accountant. Cases against 11 others have been referred to the military commissions for investigation.
But Robertson's ruling has put the entire process on hold, and administration officials have been eager to get it set aside so the trials can go forward.
The Pentagon meanwhile last month said it was considering changes to the structure of the commissions, which reportedly would bring them closer to the standards for military courts-martial.
04/07/2005 17:14 GMT