Bin Laden's driver can contact jailed Qaeda leaders

By Jane Sutton

GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba (Reuters) - Osama bin Laden's driver can send notes to top al Qaeda leaders imprisoned at Guantanamo asking them to describe the job he performed for the group in Afghanistan, a war crimes court judge ruled on Wednesday.

The driver, Salim Hamdan of Yemen, faces trial in the military court at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on charges of conspiring with al Qaeda and providing material support for terrorism.

His lawyers argued that driving for terrorists doesn't make him a terrorist. They said Hamdan was a poor laborer who joined bin Laden's motor pool in Afghanistan because he needed the salary, but never joined al Qaeda or knew in advance of its attacks.

They asked that he be allowed to send written questions to some of the "high-value" al Qaeda detainees sent to Guantanamo from secret CIA prisons in 2006, asking them to describe his work and what role, if any, he played in the organization.

The request for their testimony was granted despite strong objections from a prosecutor. He said Hamdan should not be allowed any communication with dangerous prisoners because they could send back coded messages, reveal secrets or hatch a plot to disrupt the trials.

The prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney John Murphy, called them "the brain trust to some of the worst terrorists the world has seen in our lifetime."

"They shouldn't even know he's out there," he said.

The judge, Navy Capt. Keith Allred, suggested possible wording for Hamdan's notes: "I think it would be nice if you would help me out by answering the questions."

Hamdan's lawyers have already submitted questions about Hamdan to alleged September 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, but security review officers were analyzing his written reply and had not yet turned it over to the defense attorneys.

The defense lawyers want to question the other "high-value" prisoners as well to provide additional corroboration.

Hamdan was captured in Afghanistan in November 2001, shortly after U.S.-led forces invaded to oust the Taliban and their al Qaeda cohorts after the September 11 attacks.

Prosecutors say he was a trusted al Qaeda insider who transported weapons for the group and helped bin Laden escape U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

Hamdan was absent from Wednesday's hearing on the remote naval base in Cuba, where the United States holds about 280 foreign captives it considers to be unlawful enemy combatants with no claim to the rights granted formal prisoners of war.

He said during a session on Tuesday that he would boycott the proceedings because he had no hope of receiving a fair trial.

Hamdan, who has been held at Guantanamo for more than six years, is scheduled to be the first captive to go to trial on May 28 in the war court, which has been widely condemned by human rights activists and military defense lawyers. The trial could be held without him if he maintains his boycott.