"I have never been a member of al Qaeda or the Taliban." These are the words of Noor Uthman Muhammed, read to a panel of military commission member...
As the closing of Guantanamo becomes a fading priority, it is business as usual at the military commissions.
I attended a military commission hearing in the case of Noor Uthman Muhammed, a forty-something year old Sudanese man who is accused of being a member of al Qaeda.
Throughout yesterday's hearing, if there was one thing that the prosecution, defense and judge could agree on, it was that there simply is no law to guide many of the situations that come up.
The Military Commissions to try Guantanamo detainees have rarely grabbed the media attention that a novel, flagship program to try "terror suspects" should have attracted.
In April, Ibrahim al-Qosi also boycotted his pre-trial hearing, telling the judge, "I do not recognize the justice or the lawfulness of this court,
