Washington - Salim Hamdan was so close to Osama bin Laden that the terrorist ringleader threw a feast to celebrate the former driver's wedding, an FBI witness who interviewed Hamdan testified in court on Wednesday, according to a report by USA Today. Bin Laden "definitely trusts him with his life," Ali Soufan told the court in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where the first US military tribunal since World War II got underway this week.
Hamdan, a Yemeni, is charged with conspiracy and providing material support to terrorists and faces life in prison if convicted. He is accused of serving as bin Laden's driver and bodyguard before his capture in 2001 and subsequent transfer to Guantanamo in 2002.
Soufan, an agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation who investigated the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole and the 1998 bombings of two US embassies in Africa, interviewed Hamdan twice after his arrival at Guantanamo.
Soufan testified that Hamdan did not learn of the two attacks and the September 11, 2001 until after the attacks and was shown videos by al-Qaeda leaders.
"It's a trusted group of people," Soufan said, according to USA Today. "He was accepted in."
Hamdan's tribunal is the first under President George W Bush's controversial military commissions established more than six years ago.
Hamdan alleges he was abused during intense interrogations while in US custody, and has been among the most active Guantanamo detainees challenging the legal process in federal court.
Hamdan's trial is seen as the first test of the military commissions since they were established by Bush more than six years ago. The Pentagon has charged 20 detainees, and that number is expected to climb to 80 of the 270 detainees who remain locked up at Guantanamo.
Human rights groups have said that the tribunals do not provide the detainees with the rights afforded by US civilian courts and are designed to produce convictions.
The defendants have military-appointed attorneys and are permitted to seek private counsel. The US military maintains the trials are fair because defendants are allowed to summon witnesses to testify on their behalf, and have access to all of the evidence prosecutors display in court.
The trial of the alleged mastermind of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and four other defendants in the death penalty cases could get under way as early as September. Mohammed declared during a hearing in June that he wanted to be martyred.
Australian David Hicks is the only suspect convicted under the tribunals. He pleaded guilty, was allowed to serve nine months in jail in his home country and has since been f
