Guantanamo Detainee Given Military Lawyer

WASHINGTON — A Yemeni man being held at a U.S. military prison in Cuba has been provided with a military lawyer, the second of hundreds of detainees at the base to receive defense counsel, the Pentagon said Thursday.

Salim Ahmen Hamdan is expected to meet with the lawyer, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Charles Swift, at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay “in the near future,” the Defense Department said in a statement. Thursday’s announcement was the first public acknowledgment by the United States that it was holding Hamdan.

None of the nearly 660 prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay has been charged with any crimes, although Pentagon officials have suggested military trials for some of the detainees could begin soon.

Most of those at the base were arrested during the U.S.-led war that toppled the Taliban in Afghanistan. The United States accused the Taliban of harboring Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Many of the prisoners have been held at Guantanamo for two years without charges, drawing sharp criticism from civil rights groups. The United States says that the prisoners are “enemy combatants,” not prisoners of war, and that military tribunals are allowed under international law.

Hamdan is one of six detainees at Guantanamo who has been designated by President Bush to be eligible for possible trial before a military tribunal in the U.S.-declared war on terrorism.

One of the other five, Australian David Hicks, was recently granted access to a lawyer by the Pentagon. He also recently met with an Australian legal advisor.

While the Pentagon has stipulated to Australia that Hicks would not face the death penalty even if convicted of a serious crime, it made no such statement Thursday in connection with Hamdan, nor did it indicate what charges he faces.