GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba – Four Guantanamo prisoners will be the first suspected terrorists arraigned in preliminary hearings this week before their cases go to military commissions, or trials, in an unprecedented judicial process that foreign governments, lawyers, and human rights groups have criticized.

While the maximum sentence the men face is life in prison, the military commissions – the first in nearly 60 years since America tried German saboteurs – will have the power to sentence others to death, and there is no independent appeal process. None of the four are accused of killing Americans.

One man allegedly worked as an Al Qaeda accountant. Another, a poet, is accused of crafting terrorist propaganda. A third drove and protected Osama bin Laden. A fourth, an Australian, fought with Afghanistan’s ousted Taliban.

Significant challenges already exist ahead of the first hearing scheduled for tomorrow. One defense attorney hasn’t seen his client in four months because of a government delay in giving clearance to a translator. Another defense lawyer has withdrawn from the case after accepting another job, leaving her client with no representation. Others say the broad restrictions, which include the military’s right to monitor conversations between attorneys and clients, will make it nearly impossible to win their cases.

“I’ve never gone into a hearing with so little information,” said Lieutenant Commander Charlie Swift, a military defense attorney representing Salim Ahmed Hamdan. Mr. Hamdan, a 34-yearold Yemeni driver for Osama bin Laden, is scheduled to be arraigned first tomorrow on a charge of conspiracy to commit war crimes for his ties to Al Qaeda.

Two of the other men face similar Al Qaeda conspiracy charges: Ali Hamza Ahmad Sulayman al Bahlul, 33, also of Yemen, and Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al Qosi, born in 1960, of Sudan.

The fourth defendant is David Hicks, 29, of Australia, who faces the broadest set of charges – conspiracy to commit war crimes as well as aiding the enemy, and attempted murder for allegedly firing at American or coalition forces in Afghanistan before his capture.

When many of the prisoners arrived at this American outpost in eastern Cuba in January 2002,the Bush administration was quick to declare them guilty: “These are killers,” President Bush said. Attorney General Ashcroft described them as “uniquely dangerous.”

After such comments, critics doubt the detainees can receive a fair trial since top U.S. officials also have the power to choose commission members.

The Bush administration defends the process. “I think the commissions will be viewed with great interest, and over time, people will realize how full and fair they truly are,” said Lieutenant Commander Susan McGarvey, a government spokeswoman and one of the public affairs officers for the hearings.