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Al-Qaeda member tried to set up satellite TV link so bin Laden could watch 9/11 (AFP, Feb 25, 2004)

One of the two alleged al-Qaeda members charged on Tuesday tried but failed to set up a satellite television connection so Osama bin Laden could watch the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, according to the indictment.

Ali Hamza Ahmed Sulayman al Bahlul of Yemen was described by the Pentagon as a "key al-Qaeda propagandist" and former bodyguard to bin Laden, mastermind of the 2001 hijacked plane attacks on New York and Washington which left nearly 3,000 people dead.

The Pentagon announced Tuesday that Al Bahlul and another alleged al-Qaeda member held at Guantanamo Bay, Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al Qosi of Sudan, had been charged with conspiracy to commit war crimes and would face trial by military tribunal.

MORE:
U.S. Charges Two at Guantánamo With Conspiracy (NEIL A. LEWIS, 2/25/04, NY Times)

According to the charge sheets, the two men have been part of a criminal conspiracy with Mr. bin Laden and several of his top aides that committed the offenses of "attacking civilians, attacking civilian objects" and other acts attributed in the documents to Al Qaeda. Mr. Bahlul is described as a Qaeda propagandist who made a recruiting video that celebrated the bombing of the American destroyer Cole in 2000 in the Yemeni port of Aden. Mr. Qosi was described as a Qaeda senior accountant who served as the deputy to the organization's chief financial officer. Both were described as part of an elite cadre of Qaeda associates who served as close associates of and bodyguards for Mr. bin Laden.

Prof. Detlev Vagts of the Harvard University Law School, an authority on the laws of war, said the conspiracy charge appeared to be an effort to fashion a new military offense along the lines of the civilian crime of conspiracy. Officials, Professor Vagts said, appear to have taken care not to charge that membership in Al Qaeda alone constitutes a crime.

Although the tribunal rules allow for the death penalty, the two defendants will not face it. Maj. John Smith, a lawyer with the Pentagon's office of military tribunals, said Tuesday that the chief prosecutor, Col. Fred Borch, had already decided that it would not be appropriate given the details of the accusations.