GUANTANAMO BAY, Aug 26: An Al Qaeda member who made propaganda films for Osama bin Laden said on Thursday he would have to be forced to attend a US war crimes tribunal if he could not represent himself.
Ali Hamza Ahmad al Bahlul, a Yemeni, brought the first dramatic defiance to the controversial military commission process that began this week at the Guantanamo Bay US Naval Base, Cuba.
Bahlul, who faces charges of conspiracy to commit murder and terrorist attacks, told the hearing he did not accept the military lawyers appointed to defend him. "If the American system will not allow me to defend myself, then I will be forced to attend and I will be a listener only," Hamza Bahlul told the tribunal through a translator.
"I will attend sessions if it is mandatory," he said, "but if I had a choice then I would rather not attend." He later said he would be ready to accept the involvement of a Yemeni lawyer in his defence.
Under the commission rules, Guantanamo detainees are not allowed to attend closed sessions where classified information is discussed. Foreign lawyers are also not permitted to appear before the commission.
But presiding judge Colonel Peter Brownback said Bahlul could make an application to change the procedure. He then suspended the hearing. The 36-year-old Yemeni refused to stand when the six military commission members entered the court and when the commission members were sworn in.
Bahlul did acknowledge that he was a member of Al Qaeda. No formal charges were put forth, but according to military prosecutors, Bahlul, 36, went from Yemen to Afghanistan in 1999 for military training and swore an oath of loyalty to Osama bin Laden.
In late 1999, Osama allegedly assigned Bahlul to the Al Qaeda media office to produce training and recruitment videos. On one occasion, Osama told Bahlul to "create a video glorifying" the attack on the USS Cole in Yemen in Oct 2000, the prosecutors alleged.
The charges said that, on Sept 11, 2001, Osama told Bahlul to set up a satellite connection so that he could see news reports of the Al Qaeda attacks in the United States, but he failed because of the mountainous terrain. After the attacks, Bahlul had to get news reports on the attacks and "data concerning the economic damage caused". Later, Bahlul served as a bodyguard for Osama. -AFP