Guantanamo tribunal authority challenged

WASHINGTON, April 8 (UPI) -- Another legal challenge to the U.S. military tribunal system at the Guantanamo prison in Cuba has been filed by a military lawyer, the New York Times said.

Lt. Cmdr. Charles Swift, who is representing one of the prisoners captured in Afghanistan, filed the suit in his own name in U.S. District Court in Seattle, asserting the Bush administration's plans for his client violate the Constitution, federal law and the nation's obligations under the Geneva Conventions.

The suit asserts his client, Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a Yemeni, was never involved with al-Qaida or with any military action against U.S. forces in Afghanistan. He is described as a Muslim pilgrim who took a job as a driver on Osama bin Laden's Afghan farm and later became a driver for bin Laden himself.

The suit was filed Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments April 20 on a different challenge, dealing mainly with whether the prisoners at Guantanamo are beyond the reach of American law because the naval base is not United States sovereign territory.