Clooney may star in terror film
2008-08-13 11:47
Los Angeles - Actor George Clooney has bought the movie rights to the story of the al-Qaeda terrorist network leader Osama bin Laden's driver Salim Hamdan, who was convicted of aiding terrorism by a US military tribunal.
Clooney's movie production company, Smokehouse, bought the rights to the book The Challenge by journalist Jonathan Mahler, for a seven-figure sum, the New York Post reported on Tuesday.
An ardent liberal activist, Clooney is said to be considering one of the lead roles, that of Navy Lieutenant Commander Charles Swift.
Swift was part of the legal team that took Hamdan's case to the Supreme Court and won a pre-trial decision that the Geneva Convention covers terrorists. The victory cost Swift his job and marriage.
Hamdan's case was the first to go to trial in the military commissions ordered by President George W Bush, and also the beginning of the first US military tribunals since World War II.
Hamdan was captured in 2001 in Afghanistan and has been held at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba since May 2002.
The US government alleges that Hamdan, a Yemeni, was a member of Bin Laden's inner circle and was aware of terrorist plots. The defence argued that Hamdan merely served as a driver and was not involved in terrorism. - dpa
- SAPA