Military prepares to arraign detainees despite criticism

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba – Prosecutors and defense attorneys tested microphones and arguments Monday ahead of the first arraignments of suspected terrorists at the U.S. naval base here, while human rights groups criticized the U.S military for barring prison visits.

Representatives from Amnesty International, the American Civil Liberties Union, Human Rights Watch and the American Bar Association were offered seats as observers for the pretrial hearings beginning today. Military officials, however, refused to let them tour the prison.

“The observers were invited for the military commissions,” said Col. David McWilliams, spokesman for the commissions and preliminary hearings. No other explanation was offered.

The ABA’s Neal R. Sonnett said he arrived with an open mind but was restricted in his ability to speak with panel members and prosecutors. The observers were meeting with some defense attorneys Monday night.

“Part of my job is going to be looking at all the processes, and I must express some disappointment that it did not start in the manner I would have liked,” Sonnett said.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said Monday it was weighing whether to send an observer to the commission hearings, the first such proceedings since World War II. The Geneva-based group has been the only independent organization to have access to the 585 prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base accused of links to Afghanistan’s ousted Taliban regime or the al Qaeda terror network.

Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a 34-year-old Yemeni, is the first of four suspects to be arraigned. He was charged with conspiracy to commit war crimes for his ties to al-Qaeda.

He is accused of being Osama bin Laden’s bodyguard and driver between 1996 and 2001 – a period when the al Qaeda chief was allegedly plotting the Sept. 11 attacks, the U.S. Embassy bombings in East Africa and the strike on the USS Cole. However, Hamdan is not accused of participating in any specific acts of violence or operational planning of attacks.

Human rights groups have criticized holding the men as enemy combatants, a classification giving them fewer legal protections than prisoners of war.