Guantanamo detainee taken before US military commission

A US military commission began a pre-trial hearing today for a Yemeni man charged with conspiracy and who served as Osama bin Laden’s bodyguard.

Two US soldiers guided Ali Hamza Ahmad Sulayman al Bahlul into the courtroom on this military base on the eastern tip of Cuba, where some 500 people captured in the US war on terror are detained.

Some have been held as long as four years.

During the hearing, the commission could set a trial schedule.

Al Bahlul has said he wants to defend himself and has challenged the commission’s appointment of Maj Tom Fleener as military counsel for him.

Bin Laden, the head of the al-Qaida terrorism network, allegedly directed al Bahlul to create a videotape glorifying the group’s October 2000 attack on the destroyer USS Cole in Yemen, killing 17 American sailors.

Bin Laden assigned al Bahlul to work in the al Qaida media office from late 1999 through December 2001, US prosecutors alleged in court documents.