WASHINGTON, June 11 (UPI) -- The U.S. Defense Department said it filed charges against Guantanamo Bay detainee Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi for his role in terrorist attacks in Afghanistan.
The Defense Department accused the Iraqi of joining al-Qaida by 1996. He is suspected of ascending to a high high spot in the terrorist hierarchy and commanding insurgency efforts in Afghanistan and Pakistan. He was assigned later by Osama bin Laden to take on a role in al-Qaida operations in Iraq.
The Defense Department said the charges were forwarded to a convening authority, which would determine what charges, if any, should be referred to a military commission at Guantanamo Bay.
If convicted, the suspect, probably in his 50s, faces a maximum sentence of life confinement.
The suspect, an Iraqi national, is characterized as a high-value detainee by the Defense Department. He was transferred to Guantanamo Bay in 2007.
About 100 inmates at the U.S. Navy's detention center are waging a hunger strike. President Obama told the Defense Department's National Defense University last month there was "no justification beyond politics" for keeping the prison at Guantanamo Bay open.
