Yemen indictee boycotting reconvened Guantanamo tribunal News
Yemen indictee boycotting reconvened Guantanamo tribunal

[JURIST] A Yemeni man alleged to have been an al Qaeda propagandist and security officer for Osama bin Laden told a US military commission at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] Wednesday that he was boycotting the just-reconvened proceedings [JURIST report]. At a pre-trial hearing, Ali Hamza al-Bahlul held up a sign that said "boycott" printed in Arabic and then smiled at the presiding judge. Al-Bahlul, charged with conspiracy to commit war crimes [JURIST report; US DOD charge sheet], also insisted that he did not want either a US military-appointed defense lawyer or an American civilian lawyer, and would rather represent himself. The judge nonetheless assigned military counsel. At the hearing, al-Bahlul added through an interpreter that he did not "hate all Americans" but was only an "enemy of all Americans who fight. I regard them as enemies." AP has more.