Two Guantanamo Detainees Charged
From the Department of Defense comes this news:
bq. The Department of Defense announced today that Guantanamo detainees Ali Hamza Ahmed Sulayman al Bahlul of Yemen and Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al Qosi of Sudan have been charged with conspiracy to commit war crimes and will be tried by military commission.
bq. Al Bahlul is alleged to be a key al Qaida propagandist who produced videos glorifying the murder of Americans to recruit, inspire, and motivate other al Qaida members to continue attacks against Americans, the United States, and other countries, as well as serving as a bodyguard for Usama bin Laden. Al Qosi is alleged to be a key al Qaida accountant, bin Laden bodyguard, and weapons smuggler. He is alleged to be a long-time assistant and associate of bin Laden, dating back to the time when bin Laden lived in Sudan.
bq. Charges can be found in these two PDF files:
Al Qosi and
Al Bahlul
The DOD press release then goes on to talk about Military Commissions:
bq. Military commission procedures include: the presumption of innocence; a requirement for proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt; representation by a military defense counsel free of charge with the option to retain a civilian defense counsel at no expense to the U.S. government; an opportunity to present evidence and call witnesses; and a prohibition against drawing an adverse inference if an Accused chooses not to testify. Military commissions have historically been used to try violations of the law of armed conflict and related offenses.
Nasty pieces of work - it will be good to get them tried and to expose to the world what they did...
Posted by DaveH at February 24, 2004 12:09 PM