Two prisoners with alleged ties to the al-Qaida terrorist network refused Thursday to appear before U.S. military review tribunals in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, while a third detainee did attend. A 26-year-old prisoner accused of traveling to Afghanistan with the help of an al-Qaida facilitator did not attend his hearing, said Lt. Cmdr. Daryl Borgquist, a spokesman for the Combatant Status Review Tribunals. In his home country, the prisoner attended a mosque "believed to be a major transit point for Islamic fundamentalists volunteering for combat operations," Borgquist said. The detainee's home country was not disclosed. The unclassified allegations against the prisoner did not specify whether he engaged in combat in Afghanistan, saying only that he was arrested with 30 others trying to cross the border into Pakistan.
A 36-year-old man who was arrested while living in a suspected al-Qaida safe house also did not attend his hearing, Borgquist said. The military did not say why the two did not appear. |