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US charges pair in Guantanamo

US military prosecutors filed war crimes charges against two more Guantanamo prisoners on Friday, saying one was an al-Qaeda videographer and the other one a driver and bodyguard for Osama bin Laden.

Five other detainees at the isolated US Navy base already have been charged or selected for prosecution at the first war-crimes tribunals since the World War II era.

The Yemeni, 39-year-old Ali Hamza Ahmad Sulayman al-Bahlul, allegedly created propaganda videos for bin Laden and took up arms to help him avoid capture in Afghanistan. He faces charges of conspiracy, solicitation to commit murder and providing material support to terrorism.

He allegedly created a recruiting video glorifying the bombing of the USS Cole. Seventeen US sailors were killed when al-Qaeda militants attacked the ship as it was docked in Yemen in 2000.

Prosecutors also say al Bahlul made martyrdom videotapes styled as wills for two of the Sept. 11 hijackers and helped research the economic impact of the attacks they launched against the US.

Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al-Qosi, 47, has been accused of working as a bodyguard and driver for bin Laden during the late 1990s and allegedly fought alongside al-Qaeda members in Afghanistan. He faces charges of conspiracy and supporting terrorism.

Both face life in prison if convicted. The two were among 10 previously charged under a prosecution system that was struck down by the US Supreme Court in 2006. Congress later authorized a new version of the tribunals.

The new chargess against them must be approved by a Pentagon official -- Susan Crawford, the convening authority for military commissions -- before their pretrial hearings can start at Guantanamo.

Since al Bahlul and al Qosi had been charged before, much of the work in their cases has already been done, said Commander Jeffrey Gordon,a Pentagon spokesman.

Meanwhile, the New York Times reported yesterday that military prosecutors are in the final phases of preparing the first sweeping case against suspected conspirators in the Sept. 11 attacks, citing people who have been briefed on the case.

The charges, to be filed at Guantanamo, would involve up to six detainees. The paper quoted on official who spoke on condition of anonymity as saying "the thinking was Sept. 11 is the heart and soul of the whole thing. The thinking was: go for that."
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