Guantanamo detainee is 4th to face terrorism charges

WASHINGTON -- The government has charged a Yemeni being held at the naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in connection with alleged terrorist activities, the Pentagon announced yesterday.

Salim Ahmed Hamdan is the fourth prisoner at Guantanamo to face charges that would send him to a military tribunal. He is charged with conspiracy to attack civilians, to murder, and to commit terrorism.

His military lawyer, Navy Lieutenant Commander Charlie Swift, has said Hamdan acknowledged being a driver within Osama bin Laden's organization in pre-Sept. 11, 2001 Afghanistan, but denied taking part in terrorist activities.

A charge sheet issued by the Pentagon says Hamdan, also known as Saqr al Jaddawi, was a bodyguard and personal driver for bin Laden between February 1996 and Nov. 24, 2001, when he was captured.

The document alleges that he transported weapons to Al Qaeda operatives, trained at an Al Qaeda camp, and drove in convoys that transported bin Laden. It does not say he took part in any specific acts of violence or participated in the operational planning of any attacks.

Swift, in an interview last February, said Hamdan took a $200-a-month job driving for bin Laden to support his family. Hamdan is in his mid-30s and has a wife and two young daughters.

Swift said Hamdan said his job was to transport workers to the fields on a farm run by bin Laden near Kandahar.

Some 15 people at Guantanamo have been identified as potential defendants for military tribunals. Hamdan is the fourth to be charged.

Meanwhile, a Swede released from Guantanamo Bay last week said he had been chained and tortured by exposure to freezing cold, noise, and bright lights during his 2-year imprisonment.

Mehdi Ghezali, 25, the son of an Algerian-born immigrant who was arrested in Pakistan, was released on July 8 after pressure from Sweden, including a meeting in Washington between Prime Minister Goran Persson and President Bush.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters: ''The government of Sweden representatives have visited Guantanamo on multiple occasions and they have not expressed allegations of mistreatment to us."

Material from Reuters was included in this report.