Two Guantanamo suspects to face al-Qaida trial

Two men alleged to have been bodyguards and aides for Osama bin Laden were charged with conspiracy to commit war crimes and ordered to stand trial before the first US military tribunals convened since World War Two, officials announced today.

Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al Qosi, of Sudan, was a paymaster for al-Qaida, and Ali Hamza Ahmed Sulayman al Bahlul, of Yemen, was a propagandist for bin Laden, according to US military charges.

The two men are among more than 600 foreign prisoners held at the US Navy’s Guantanamo prison camp in Cuba.

Both spent time in terrorist training camps and served as bodyguards for bin Laden, according to military charging documents, similar to indictments in the civilian court system.

Both are charged with conspiring with al-Qaida to commit murder and attacks on civilians and civilian targets and to commit terrorism.

The charging documents list several terrorist crimes attributed to al-Qaida, including the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, the 1998 bombing of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and the bombing of the Navy warship USS Cole, in 2000.

The documents do not allege the two men played any specific role in planning for or carrying out those attacks, however.

Although President George Bush has authorised the death penalty for suspects convicted by military tribunals, prosecutors will not seek it for the two suspects charged today, the Pentagon said.

Instead, the two face a maximum of life in prison if convicted.

The military tribunals are expected to take place at Guantanamo Bay, though the brief charging documents do not indicate when.

Military tribunals are traditionally used to try alleged war criminals, such as those held for Nazi leaders following World War Two.

They are similar to military trials known as courts-martial but share some features of ordinary civilian trials as well.

Suspects are entitled to defence lawyers and can put on a vigorous defence.

Rules of evidence are more favourable to the US government, however, and the Guantanamo tribunal suspects will have only limited rights to appeal convictions.

Al Qosi joined al-Qaida in 1989 and remained a member until his capture in December 2001, the documents said.

He travelled with bin Laden, serving as a driver and quartermaster, and also worked as an accountant and treasurer for a business intended to provide income and cover for al-Qaida terror operations, they claim.

Bin Laden personally assigned al Bahlul to work in the al-Qaida “media office”, where he created videotapes to motivate al-Qaida members and recruit new terror soldiers, the documents claim.

They also say that bin Laden ordered a video glorifying the attack on the USS Cole, a US Navy ship nearly sunk by a suicide boat bombing in Yemen in 2000. The attack killed 17 sailors.