GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba, 25 August 2004 — Osama Bin Laden’s chauffeur was arraigned yesterday in the first US military commissions since World War II, appearing at a pretrial hearing as the man’s defense lawyer challenged the very basis of the hearings.

Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a 34-year-old Yemeni, entered without shackles or handcuffs, in a white flowing robe as he put on headphones to hear an Arabic interpreter. He appeared at ease, smiling and chuckling, even after conspiracy charges were explained a second time.

Hamdan has said he earned a pittance for his family as Bin Laden’s driver prior to the Sept. 11 attack, but he has denied involvement in terrorism.

US officials allege he served as the Al-Qaeda leader’s bodyguard and delivered weapons to his operatives. Hamdan was charged with conspiracy as an Al-Qaeda member to commit war crimes, including attacking civilians and civilian targets, murder, destroying property and terrorism.

The hearing marked the first such tribunal proceedings since World War II. The five-member commission allows for secret evidence and no federal appeals. “This process goes against everything that we fought for in the history of the United States,” Hamdan’s attorney Lt. Cmdr. Charlie Swift said beforehand.

At the core of the preliminary hearings are whether the commissions are legal. Swift questioned the presiding officer, US Army Col. Peter E. Brownback, asking whether he thought the proceedings were lawful. Brownback said he chose not to answer at the time.

In a handout issued beforehand, Swift said he planned to ask that the charges be dismissed.

He said it was wrong the commission was going ahead even though no review has been held to formally determine whether Hamdan is properly classified as an “enemy combatant,” and without giving him a chance to contest that classification in US civilian courts.

The United States has charged four of the 585 Al-Qaeda or Taleban 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 authorized by President George W. Bush for trying foreign militants after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington in which 3,000 people were killed.

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. “It’s brand new, it’s broken and it’s flawed,” said Neal Sonnett, who was observing the hearings for the association.

Two other defendants, Ali Hamza Ahmed Sulayman Al-Bahlul of Yemen and Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud Al-Qosi, a Sudanese citizen, are accused of being Bin Laden bodyguards. The third defendant is Australian David Hicks.

The last US war crimes tribunals took place in 1942, when eight Germans were captured after sneaking into New York and Florida by submarine to blow up railroads, bridges and factories.