Wednesday, January 27, 2010 WASHINGTON: Defense lawyers for a Yemeni man accused of being an aide to Osama bin Laden launched an appeal Tuesday against his life sentence, arguing he had the right to a new trial before a US federal court. Ali Hamza Ahmad al-Bahlul, said to have been an aide and media secretary to the Al-Qaeda leader, was convicted in November 2008 by a military commission at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He was sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of conspiracy, solicitation to murder and terrorist acts, as well as providing material support for terrorism. But his lawyer told a Washington appeals court that Bahlul had the right to a new trial in a federal court, and contested the evidence used to convict his client. The main evidence rested on a video dating from October 2000 which the prosecution says was used to recruit new Al-Qaeda members. "He may have advocated violence, anti-semitism and violence against women, but none of those ...
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