Former Bin Laden driver describes interrogation at Guantanamo

Guantanamo Bay: A former driver for Osama Bin Laden testified on Tuesday that he was groped by a female interrogator, conduct his lawyers say should prompt a judge to throw out statements he made to authorities during his confinement.

Salim Ahmed Hamdan said the woman put her hand on his thigh and behaved in an "improper" way, a tactic that he said made him uncomfortable as a Muslim.

"She came very close with her whole body toward me. I couldn't do anything," Hamdan said through an interpreter, staring vacantly from the witness stand as his lawyer pressed for details during a pretrial hearing at the US base.

Prosecutors denied Hamdan's allegations and questioned his credibility, arguing on cross-examination that he has lied to his captors about the details of his capture.

The Yemeni prisoner is scheduled to face trial next week by a US military tribunal on charges of conspiracy and providing support to terrorism. He faces up to life in prison if convicted.

He became visibly uncomfortable as a defense lawyer asked him about the female interrogator, refusing to say out loud where she touched him, instead pointing to his waist.

"It's difficult for me to say that," he said. "A woman behaved in an improper way with a man, without me doing anything."

In his testimony, Hamdan said interrogators also frequently woke him up on nights before interrogations and used medical treatment as a reward for his cooperation.

Hamdan, who US military records show is about 37, was seized at a roadblock in Afghanistan in November 2001 and accused of helping bin Laden escape following the US-led invasion.

A military judge at Guantanamo was considering several last-minute challenges this week in his case, scheduled to become the first US war-crimes trial since World War II.