Three Guantánamo inmates to be charged

A new system for trying foreign terrorism suspects held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, has begun with charges filed against three inmates. Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesperson, said: "The chief prosecutor for military commissions has sworn charges against Guantánamo detainees David Hicks of Australia, Salim Hamdan of Yemen and Omar Khadr of Canada." The move on Feb. 2 was the first step toward holding trials under a system set up by the US government last year to try foreign terrorism suspects held at the detention camp at the US military base. None of the 395 prisoners presently held at the prison in Guantánamo have ever been tried. Under the new system, the charges filed by the prosecutor, Colonel Moe Davis, now have to be reviewed by other officials before the men can be formally charged. Hicks was arrested in Afghanistan in late 2001 and has been accused of fighting for al-Qaida and conducting surveillance of US and British embassies on its behalf. The prosecutor filed charges against Hicks, 31, of providing material support for terrorism and attempted murder in violation of the law of war, the Pentagon said. Hicks' military defense lawyer, Major Michael Mori, criticized the charges, saying even the prosecutor had stated that there was no evidence the Australian had shot at anyone in Afghanistan. "The charge of material support is not part of the law of war and does not appear in any US or Australian military manual as a law of war offense." John Howard, the Australian prime minister, had demanded charges be filed against Hicks by the end of February. "I'm glad that the charges are being laid and that the deadline I set has been met," Howard told reporters in Sydney on Feb. 3. "They are very serious charges and that is why they should be dealt with as soon as possible." Terry Hicks, David Hicks' father, said, "I would be more relieved if David was facing a fair and just situation, not virtually the same thing that they went through before, which has been ruled as illegal." Hamdan is accused by prosecutors of acting as Osama bin Laden's driver and of transporting weapons for al-Qaida. The charges filed against him are conspiracy and providing material support for terrorism. Khadr is accused of murdering one US soldier with a grenade and wounding another during a fire-fight at a suspected al-Qaida compound in Afghanistan. He was 15-years-old when he was captured during the clash. The prosecutor filed charges accusing him of murder in violation of the law of war, attempted murder in violation of the law of war, spying, conspiracy and providing material support to terrorism, the US defense department said. The US Supreme Court ruled in 2004 that detainees could go to US courts to seek their release or changes in confinement conditions. But in October 2006 President Bush signed a law taking away prisoners' rights to the US court system. Indonesia, however, has been allowed to interrogate an alleged terrorist chief held at Guantánamo, a police spokesperson said. US officials had previously refused Indonesian investigators access to Hambali, also known as Riduan Ismaddin, because they said doing so could compromise their own investigation of his activities. General Sutanto, Indonesian police chief, said: "We need to question him to get more information on the [al-Qaida] network in Indonesia." Hambali, an Indonesian citizen, was arrested in 2003 by US Central Intelligence Agency operatives in Thailand. He is alleged to be the operations chief of the al-Qaida-linked group Jemaah Islamiyah, blamed for bombings in Indonesia, including the 2002 attack on the resort island of Bali which killed 202 people. Indonesia has long demanded access to Hambali, who allegedly had links to two of the Sept. 11 hijackers. He was reportedly also involved in a plan to recruit new pilots for another wave of suicide hijackings in the US. Washington says it plans to put him on trial, but he has not been charged with any crime. More than 770 prisoners have been imprisoned at Guantánamo since the US began using the base to hold suspects captured during the "war on terror" that Bush launched in response to the Sept. 11 attacks.