WASHINGTON, May 5 (IslamOnline) - Afghanistan's ruling Taliban has agreed to conduct Osama bin Laden's trial in absentia in the United States, news reports from Pakistan indicate.
The News newspaper, in a report from the Taliban's political capital Kandahar, said, "the Saudi millionaire will testify only through satellite technology [from his hideout]."
An unidentified Taliban official told the paper, "We cannot trust his life with those who want to kill him," indirectly referring to the U.S. due to it launching a missile attack in 1998 against suspect bin Laden bases in Afghanistan.
The Taliban's formula suggests that bin Laden could be tried in absentia by an Islamic court in the United States or any other third country.
The News, again quoting an unidentified senior Taliban official, said that both sides -America and Osama, "will be free to appoint their own lawyers." The official also reportedly told The News that the Taliban would be obliged to carry out a verdict even if it meant ,"Osama's expulsion from Afghanistan, his execution or life imprisonment."
The News said the Taliban are proposing this trial following intense pressure from U.S. officials who visited Kabul last week. It said the Taliban, who have so far resisted U.S. pressure, are shifting to a flexible approach on the issue, and that the details of the proposed trial are being finalized in Kandahar.
The Afghan embassy in Islamabad, however, declined to comment on the report saying they were not aware of any such proposal.
