Bin Laden driver walks out of court

Osama bin Laden's former driver briefly walked out of his war crimes trial before a military tribunal as the prosecution showed videos of his interrogations.

Osama bin Laden's former driver briefly walked out of his war crimes trial before a military tribunal as the prosecution showed videos of his interrogations.

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"Mr (Salim) Hamdan does not want to watch the video," one of his lawyers on Wednesday told the military officer presiding over the terrorism trial at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The terror suspect was then escorted out by two soldiers, but the judge, Keith Allred, said the video of Hamdan's first interrogation in 2001 would be shown in any event.

"We are going to watch the video because this is evidence," Allred said.

Before his exit, Hamdan told Allred he did not want his lawyers to speak on his behalf while he was out of the room.

"When I am here, the defense can speak, when I am not here, they cannot speak," Hamdan said.

The video shows Hamdan with a thick beard two days after his capture in Afghanistan in November 2001.

In poor quality footage, he is shown kneeling on the floor under armed guard with his hands cuffed, struggling to answer an avalanche of questions about items found in the car he was driving, including two surface-to-air missiles.

Hamdan returned to his seat between his attorneys one hour after his walkout as the court was being shown the second video.

Before the proceedings resumed, the suspect apologised to the court, saying there had been a misunderstanding with his lawyers.