A US military commission began a pre-trial hearing today for a Yemeni man charged with conspiracy and who allegedly served as Osama bin Laden's bodyguard.
Detainees sit in a holding area watched by military police at Camp X-Ray inside Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Two US soldiers guided Ali Hamza Ahmad Sulayman al Bahlul into the courtroom on this military base on the eastern tip of Cuba, where some 500 people captured in the US war on terror are detained.
Some have been held as long as four years.
During the hearing, the commission could set a trial schedule.
Al Bahlul has said he wants to defend himself and has challenged the commission's appointment of Maj Tom Fleener as military counsel for him.
Bin Laden allegedly directed al Bahlul to create a videotape glorifying the group's October 2000 attack on the destroyer USS Cole in Yemen, killing 17 American sailors.
Bin Laden also assigned al Bahlul to work in the al Qaeda media office from late 1999 through December 2001, US prosecutors alleged in court documents.
AP