Bin Laden chauffeur at court

2004-08-24 20:35

Guantanamo Bay - Osama bin Laden's chauffeur was arraigned on Tuesday in the first United States military commissions since World War II, appearing at a pretrial hearing as his defence lawyer sought to challenge the process as unfair.

Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a 34-year-old Yemeni, smiled as he appeared without handcuffs or shackles.

He wore a flowing white robe and a tan suit jacket with a long shawl over his shoulders.

His lawyers have said he earned a pittance for his family as bin Laden's driver before the September 11 attack.

But US officials allege he did more, serving as the al-Qaeda leader's bodyguard and delivering weapons to his operatives.

Hamdan was the first detainee to appear before a US military commission that allows for secret evidence and no federal appeals, in the first such tribunal since World War II.

"This process goes against everything that we fought for in the history of the United States," said Hamdan's attorney, Lieutenant Commander Charlie Swift beforehand.

Commissions going ahead

He was challenging the government's classification of his client as an "enemy combatant". Hamdan denies supporting terrorism.

Swift said in a handout released before the hearing on Tuesday that he planned to ask that the charges be dismissed since the commissions were going ahead without giving his client an opportunity to contest his classification as an "enemy combatant" in US civilian courts.

"The defence believes that not only is this a breach of faith with the civilian courts, but if the commission proceedings occur on Tuesday, that they will substantially predujice any chance Mr Hamdan might have at a fair hearing before the combatant status review panel as well as during subsequent commission proceedings," said Swift.

- AP