Ali al - Bahlul Ali Hamza Ahmad Suliman al Bahlul ( born September 11 , 1969 , Hudaydah , Yemen ) is a Yemeni citizen who has been held as an enemy combatant since 2002 in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camp . He boycotted the Guantanamo Military Commissions , arguing that there was no legal basis for the military tribunals to judge him . He was convicted in November 2008 of performing media relations for the Saudi Osama bin Laden , the founder of Al - Qaeda , and sentenced to life imprisonment , after a jury of nine military officers deliberated for less than an hour . The U . S . Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia overturned his conviction on January 25 , 2013 . The court ruled that the charges of which he was convicted were not recognized war crimes at the time he was accused of committing them . Background . Joint Task Force Guantanamo counter - terrorism analysts describe Ali Hamza Ahmad Suliman al Bahlul as al Qaida ' s public relations director . He is alleged to have created propaganda videos glorifying attacks against the United States . He set up a satellite receiver for Osama bin Laden , the leader of the terrorist organization , to listen to live radio coverage of the September 11 , 2001 attacks in the United States , which al Qaida caused . He faced charges before the first Guantanamo military commissions , before the United States Supreme Court ruled that they were unconstitutional under existing executive authority . In 2004 he was held in solitary confinement . Charged before a military commission . Bahlul faced charges before a Guantanamo military commission prior to the United States Supreme Court ruling in " Hamdan v . Rumsfeld " ( 2006 ) that the Bush Presidency lacked the constitutional authority to create military commissions . He was indicted along with Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al Qosi . Lieutenant Commander Philip Sundel , his first military defense attorney , described the difficulty in getting a security clearance for a translator to talk to his client . Sundel told CBS News : " There ' s virtually no chance he can get a fair trial . " Bahlul asked Peter Brownback , the president of the commissions , if he could represent himself . Al Bahlul and the question of whether detainees should be able to represent themselves were featured in the October 2007 issue of the " Yale Law Journal " in an article by Matthew Bloom entitled : " ' I Did Not Come Here To Defend Myself ' : Responding to War on Terror Detainees ' Attempts To Dismiss Counsel and Boycott the Trial " . His most recent military lawyer is Major Thomas Fleener . After the Supreme Court ruling , Congress passed the Military Commissions Act of 2006 , to authorize military commissions at Guantanamo to hear and judge detainee cases . On February 9 , 2008 , Bahlul and Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud Al Qosi were charged before military commissions . Carol Rosenberg of the " Miami Herald " , reported that Bahlul would be allowed to represent himself before the newly authorized military commissions , although he was not previously allowed to do so before the Presidentially authorized commissions . David McFadden of the " Associated Press " reported that only three reporters covered Bahlul ' s trial , associated with the " Miami Herald " , the " Associated Press " , and " Reuters " . The new law authorized detainees to represent themselves by choice . Testimony of members of the " Buffalo Six " . In late October 2008 , three of the men from the group known as the " Buffalo Six " testified at Bahlul ' s Guantanamo military commissions . They testified on having been shown a two - hour video that Bahlul produced . Conviction . On November 3 , 2008 , Bahlul was convicted of conspiring with al - Qaeda , soliciting murder and providing material support for terrorism . At his sentencing , he admitted he was a member of Al - Qaeda , and was sentenced to life imprisonment . Through a translator , Bahlul said , " We will fight government that governs America , We are the only ones on Earth who stand against you . " Appeal . Rosenberg in the " Miami Herald " reported that Bahlul ' s military defense attorneys filed a 50 - page appeal of his sentence on grounds of free speech . The appeal was the second filed with the Court for Military Commission Review . Bahlul had boycotted his military commission , so no defense was mounted . He also refused to participate in the appeal . Rosenberg reported that the Obama Presidency has proposed a change to the process of appeals of the rulings and verdicts of military commissions . The proposed changes would have such appeals first heard by the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces , which Rosenberg noted was a 58 - year - old institution . In the current process , there is no appeal to rulings of the Court of Military Commission Review . Under the proposed changes , appeals could be taken up to the United States Supreme Court . Jane Sutton , reporting for Reuters , wrote that when Al Bahlul ' s conviction was overturned it implied the highest profile trials , those against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed , and four other conspirators , also seemed more likely to face similar challenges . Al Bahlul ' s was the second of the seven Guantanamo convictions to be overturned , so far . Salim Ahmed Hamdan , who had only been convicted of " " providing material support for terrorism " " had his conviction overturned in 2012 . Three of the other five individuals to be convicted had also only been convicted of " " providing material support for terrorism " " . Isolation from the other captives . Rosenberg has reported that , following his conviction , Al Bahlul was separated from the other captives . She said that the Department of Defense ( DOD ) justified the isolation because the " Geneva Conventions . . . forbids convicts from being held with war prisoners . "