AL- QAIDA SUSPECT APPEARS FOR FIRST TIME SINCE 2002

WASHINGTON A Palestinian not seen publicly since his capture in 2002 appeared Tuesday at a U. S. government hearing called to determine whether he should remain in detention at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Abu Zubaydah, who sat expressionless, was the first high- profile al- Qaida terror suspect captured after the 9/ 11 attacks, and the first to vanish into the CIA’s secret “black site” prison network. He has been at Guantanamo Bay for 10 years.

The U. S. believed that Zubaydah, 45, was one of the most senior figures in al-Qaida when he was captured in Pakistan. It has since dropped that claim.

Zubaydah was subjected to what the George W. Bush administration called “enhanced interrogation” in the belief that he was withholding information