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US NAVAL BASE GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba: The trial of Osama Bin Laden's former driver before a special US military tribunal in Guantanamo focused Tuesday on a dispute over what evidence should be allowed in court from interrogations deemed "coercive" by defence lawyers.
Held under tight security for more than six years at the "war on terror" prison camp at the remote US naval base, Salim Hamdan sat at a table with his lawyers without cuffs or shackles. With a white turban wrapped over his long hair, the Yemeni national wore a white shirt and a beige vest.
On Monday, Captain Keith Allred, the military officer presiding over the tribunal, ruled prosecutors could not use some evidence because it was obtained in "coercive" conditions when Hamdan was held at a base in Bagram, Afghanistan after his capture in 2001.
Allred left open the possibility of throwing out other evidence from an interrogation in 2003.
As the trial's first witnesses took the stand on Tuesday, a team of defence lawyers pored over some 600 pages of documents from the 2003 questioning. The documents were not handed over by prosecutors until the eve of the trial.
The Pentagon said the rulings over evidence had not damaged the prosecution's case under the controversial tribunal system set up by President George W. Bush to try terror suspects.
"In any trial process there are going to be motions to exclude certain evidence, and that happens all the time," said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman.
"I have no sense that the prosecution doesn't still remain confident in their case."
Hamdan, who listened on headphones to a translation of the proceedings carried out in English, turned often to his lawyers as witnesses described his detention and initial interrogations.
The first witness, a US military officer whose identity was kept secret, could not say definitely that a car with surface-to-air missiles inside belonged to Hamdan.
The witness testified "several missiles were in a vehicle" but did "not affirmatively say that this vehicle belongs to Mr Hamdan," said Major Gail Crawford, spokeswoman for the military commission.
A second witness, another military officer whose identity was protected, expressed no doubt that two missiles, plane tickets, passports and cash were found in a car belonging to Hamdan.
The second witness also said Hamdan was not subjected to any violence during his interrogations or by his guards.
The judge has rejected demands from defence lawyers to prohibit statements made by Hamdan during his time at the Guantanamo camp.
Allred's decision could present difficulties in future trials in Guantanamo, including the case of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged Al-Qaeda mastermind behind the September 11 attacks.
US officials have admitted Mohammed was subjected to severe interrogation tactics, including "waterboarding," a technique meant to simulate drowning and widely condemned as torture.
Hamdan is the first "enemy combatant" in Guantanamo to face a full-scale trial before the special tribunals, since the prison camp at the remote naval base opened in late 2001.
Hamdan, whose trial is expected to last at least two weeks, faces charges of "conspiracy" and "material support for terrorism," and could receive life imprisonment if convicted by a jury of military officers.
He entered a not guilty plea on Monday.
The Bush administration has been blasted by human rights groups and foreign governments for holding inmates for years at Guantanamo without giving them the right to defend themselves in court.
Of the 260 detainees currently in Guantanamo, only around 20 have been charged with a crime and the government says it plans to put only 60 to 80 of them on trial.
Administration officials have argued for the need to continue to detain some inmates indefinitely without charge.
- AFP/yb
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