Bin Laden's driver to be first in Guantanamo trials
Osama bin Laden’s driver is to become the first terrorism suspect to face trial at Guantanamo Bay.
A US military judge cleared the way for his prosecution by a war-crimes tribunal after rejecting arguments that the man was a prisoner of war and beyond the tribunal’s jurisdiction.
The judge, Navy Captain Keith Allred, said there was credible evidence that Salim Ahmed Hamdan was bin Laden’s personal driver from 1997-2001, occasionally served as a bodyguard for the al-Qaida leader, and sometimes picked up and delivered weapons.
“The accused is an alien unlawful enemy combatant,” the judge wrote in a decision released by military authorities today.
Hamdan’s lawyers argued he should be classified as a prisoner of war, with more legal protections than those granted to the unlawful enemy combatants who are to be tried before the military tribunals.
Hamdan, who US military records show is about 37, faces life in prison if convicted by the tribunal of conspiracy and supporting terrorism.
He was captured in a car with two surface-to-air missiles by Afghan troops in November 2001 and turned over to US forces.
His military defense lawyer Brian Mizer said he was disappointed.
“I think the evidence was that he was a prisoner of war. He was caught taking conventional weapons to a conventional force … and it’s not a crime to be a soldier.”
The judge’s decision was based on two days of testimony at a hearing at the Navy base in Cuba earlier this month.
Hamdan’s trial is scheduled for March 3, but the defence plans to ask for a delay until May 28.
Detainee David Hicks of Australia earlier avoided trial by agreeing to a plea bargain that returned him home to serve his sentence.
The US holds about 290 prisoners at Guantanamo and has said it plans to bring about 80 before the tribunals – the first to be held by the US since the World War II era.
