[JURIST] Accused Saudi Al Qaeda operative Jabran Said bin al Qahtani, a prisoner at the military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive], told a US military commission there Tuesday that the United States was an "enemy of God" and said he would prefer death to complying with the tribunal. The US government has accused Qahtani [DOD charge sheet, PDF] of building hand-held detonators like the kind used against US forces in Afghanistan. He and two other detainees face military commissions [JURIST news archive] this week to answer various charges against them.

Presiding officer Navy Capt. Daniel O'Toole called a recess after Qahtani's outburst, but Qahtani did not return. His lawyer said afterwards that he was boycotting the proceeding and would not come back unless physically forced. Reuters has more.