US: Osama bin Laden's driver went on trial at Guantánamo yesterday, in the first United States sponsored war crimes trial since the second World War.
Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a Yemeni who has admitted driving for the fugitive al-Qaeda leader, faces charges before the controversial US war court of conspiracy and providing material support for terrorism. Mr Hamdan could face life in prison if convicted by a jury of US military officers.
He entered a "not guilty" plea.
Some prospective jurors were in the Pentagon or knew people there when a hijacked plane struck on September 11th, 2001. They were questioned by military judge Keith Allred and lawyers about whether they could be impartial.
"You must make your determination whether or not he is guilty based solely on the evidence . . . and the instructions I will give you," said the judge, a Navy captain.
The opening trial in the much-criticised military tribunal system started 6½ years after the US opened the prison camp in Cuba to jail al-Qaeda and Taliban suspects.
Prosecutors contend that Mr Hamdan was close to al-Qaeda's inner circle and was on the way to a battle zone with two surface-to-air missiles in his car when captured in 2001, shortly after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan.
Mr Hamdan's lawyers say he is not a member of al-Qaeda, and was merely a driver and mechanic in bin Laden's motor pool.
Mr Hamdan was being tried in a court overlooking Guantánamo Bay by a jury selected from a pool of 13 US military officers.
Midway through the day, prospective jurors had been questioned, but the final panel had not been decided. Judge Allred ordered that their identities be kept secret.
He asked whether they would have any bias against Mr Hamdan because he was Arab, Muslim or Yemeni. All said no. Lawyers questioned some of the officers on whether they knew anyone in the Pentagon on 9/11. Some said yes.
One prospective juror, a Navy captain and former policeman, said he knew the commander of the USS Cole, which was struck by a suicide attack in 2000 in a Yemeni port, killing 17 American sailors. "No one wants to see shipmates hurt and killed. It angered me," he said.
They were also asked about when they thought the war on terrorism started. Some said 2001, but an army lieutenant colonel said he believed it began in the 1990s. "Radical Islam exists and I believe we are at war with it," he said. - ( Reuters)