Enlarge imageBy Jane Sutton
GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba (Reuters) - A Yemeni accused of being a bodyguard for Osama bin Laden went before a U.S. military tribunal on Wednesday and said he would boycott his war crimes trial because he did not recognise the tribunal’s authority.
Yemeni Ali Hamza al Bahlul, who has acknowledged that he is "from al Qaeda," is one of only nine Guantanamo prisoners charged with crimes.
A separate tribunal also began on Wednesday for Canadian Omar Khadr, who is accused of killing a U.S. Army medic in Afghanistan when he was still 15.
Most of the 500 or so detainees at Guantanamo have been held without charges for years. The pre-trial hearings at the remote military base in Cuba began on the fourth anniversary of the opening of Guantanamo as a prison for terrorism suspects.
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Bahlul is accused of conspiring to commit war crimes by acting as a bin Laden bodyguard and making recruiting videos for al Qaeda. He said he did not recognise the authority of what he called an illegal tribunal set up by enemies of the Muslim nations.
"There’s going to be a tribunal of God on the day of judgement," Bahlul told the court in Arabic. "Do what you have to do and rule however you have to rule ... God will rule based on justice."
Bahlul ended his participation in the proceedings with one word in English "Boycott," and the presiding officer, Army Col. Peter Brownback, set his trial tentatively for May 15.
The tribunal for Canadian prisoner Khadr, accused of killing the medic with a grenade during a firefight at a suspected al Qaeda compound in Afghanistan, was less colourful.
Khadr looked burly and grown up and sported a crew cut and full, short beard. Now 19, he quietly answered "Yes sir," when the presiding officer, Marine Col. Robert Chester, asked him if he understood his rights. He reserved the right to enter a plea later.
Khadr wore khaki pants and a blue and red T-shirt with the huge logo of the Canadian sportswear firm Roots. Chester said the attire violated court rules and urged the lawyers to find Khadr an appropriate shirt before his hearing resumed on Thursday at 1 p.m.
Through his military lawyer, Capt. John Merriam, Khadr asked that a more experienced military attorney be appointed to represent him. The hearing was the first time that Merriam has defended anybody in a courtroom, and Chester said he thought the request could be granted.
The Pentagon is proceeding with the two cases even though courts have halted the trials of other Guantanamo prisoners pending a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on whether President George W. Bush had authority to establish the tribunals to try foreign terrorism suspects after the September 11 attacks. The high court will hear arguments in the case in March.
NO SHACKLES
Neither defendant was shackled or handcuffed in the courtroom. Both face life in prison if convicted.
Bahlul, also bearded and wearing khaki pants and a dark blue button-down shirt, read a list of nine reasons why he refused to be represented by a military lawyer or to participate further, including the treatment of Palestinians by U.S. ally Israel -- "your allies, the Jews," he said.
Bahlul also said Guantanamo prisoners had been tortured and that the Britons there had been released without being subjected to military tribunals. He objected to the potential use of secret evidence and to the U.S. characterisation of prisoners as illegal belligerents.
"We are prisoners of war and legal combatants based on our religion and our religious law," he said.
Brownback rejected Bahlul’s request to represent himself and Bahlul refused to meet with Army Reserve Maj. Tom Fleener, the lawyer appointed by the military to defend him.
Smiling and thanking Brownback, Bahlul held up a sheet of paper scrawled with the word ’Boycott’ in English and Arabic. He removed translation earphones, and refused to enter a plea or to stand when the charges were read.
Bahlul’s hearing ended on Wednesday. Khadr’s will resume on Thursday to address defence complaints that the chief prosecutor made prejudicial statements by telling journalists that Khadr was a terrorist whose family spent holidays with bin Laden and trained to make bombs to kill Americans.
The United States has faced criticism at home and abroad over Guantanamo since the first group arrived from Afghanistan, shackled and wearing black-out goggles and surgical masks, on January 11, 2002.
Human rights groups have criticised rules allowing the use of evidence that may have been obtained through torture.
Chief prosecutor Col. Moe Davis said the tribunals were designed to provide a fair trial while addressing an enemy whose actions had not been anticipated under existing law.
