US: The United States convened its first war crimes tribunal since the second World War yesterday and formally charged a Yemeni described as Osama bin Laden's driver with conspiracy to commit murder as a member of al-Qaeda.
Mr Salim Ahmed Hamdan went before a controversial panel of five US military officers for a pretrial hearing at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, in southeastern Cuba, where he has been held for more than two years.
The United States has charged four of the 585 al-Qaeda or Taliban suspects at Guantanamo with conspiracy to commit war crimes, a charge that carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.
Later this week the other three may go before the military tribunals authorised by President George W. Bush for trying foreign militants after the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington in 2001.
Human rights groups called the tribunals flawed because there is no independent judicial review and said the rules were stacked to produce convictions. They say the process is unfair because it applies only to non-US citizens.
The American Bar Association said the rules were being written by Washington policymakers rather than experienced military prosecutors, and ignored the long-standing judicial code used in other US military courts.
"It's brand new, it's broken and it's flawed," said Mr Neal Sonnett, who was observing the hearings for the association.
The US alleges Mr Hamdan met Osama bin-Laden in Afghanistan in 1996 and became a personal driver and bodyguard for him and other high-ranking al-Qaeda members.
Mr Hamdan wore a long white robe and tan jacket for the hearing. He was not handcuffed.
The lawyer assigned by the Pentagon to defend Mr Hamdan has filed a suit in the US federal court arguing that any trial should be held in that court rather that before a military tribunal.