US holds new Guantanamo 'war on terror' trials

The United States will start new military trials of "war on terror" detainees at the Guantanamo Bay naval base, amid new criticism of the camp and its courts.

Accused Al-Qaeda propaganda expert Ali Hamza Ahmad al-Bahlul will be the first of two defendants to face hearings this week. He will be followed by Omar Khadr, a Canadian who was 15 when he was detained over the killing of a US soldier in Afghanistan.

Lawyers for the two have condemned the trials, while German Chancellor Angela Merkel made a veiled call for Guantanamo to be closed ahead of her visit to Washington this week.

US authorities continue to defend the holding of hundreds of detainees without charge at the camp as part of the "war on terror" declared after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

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