First war crimes trial begins in Guantanamo

“This military commission is assembled,” Judge Keith Allred said after the potential jurors were sworn in. “You must make your determination whether or not he is guilty based solely on the evidence presented here in court and the instructions I will give you,” Allred instructed jurors. “You must impartially hear the evidence.”

The first trial in the controversial war crimes court got underway six-and-a-half years after the US opened the prison camp in Cuba to jail suspected al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters.

Prosecutors contend Hamdan, a Yemeni in his late 30s, was close to al-Qaeda’s inner circle and was on the way to a battle zone with two surface-to-air missiles in his car when he was captured in November 2001, shortly after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan.

Hamdan’s lawyers say he is not a member of the al-Qaeda, and was merely a driver and mechanic in bin Laden’s motor pool, who needed the $200 monthly salary. Hamdan is being tried in a hilltop courthouse overlooking Guantanamo Bay by a jury selected from a pool of 13 US military officers flown in from around the world.