Lawyer plans to call detainee witnesses

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, July 14 (UPI) -- U.S. lawyers for terror detainee Salim Ahmed Hamdan said Monday they intend to call other detainees to testify at his Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, trial.

The lawyers for Osama bin Laden's former driver said the eight prospective witnesses include Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the self-described planner of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, The Washington Post reported.

Hamdan's trial, which is scheduled to start Monday, would be the first U.S. military commission trial in more than 50 years, the newspaper reported.

Government prosecutors objected to allowing live testimony from Mohammed and the other detainees, even though some have spoken publicly at military court proceedings in their own cases.

Officials said their testimony could harm national security by disclosing classified information.

"The prosecution is charged with protecting the national security of the United States,'' Justice Department prosecutor Clayton Trivett said at a pretrial hearing before a military judge. "The detainees that they want access to hold in their heads some of the most serious national security and intelligence sources and methods that the United States has.''