tagged w/ salim hamdan
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As the Obama administration seeks to come up with a proposal for trying Guantanamo detainees, one of the most important cases to challenge presidential authority may provide some lessons. There are still 240 detainees left on Guantanamo and progress to close the prison has been stymied by congress and other legal concerns. One of the most important trials of a Guantanamo detainee was that of Salim Hamdan. The ruling in his case essentially established that the executive cannot come up with a new trial system without congressional approval and that the executive cannot ignore the Geneva conventions. Jonathan Mahler, author of The Challenge: Hamdan v. Rumsfeld and the Fight over Presidential Power, discusses his book and the case that challenged the use of secret military courts.As the Obama administration seeks to come up with a proposal for trying Guantanamo... more
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Osama bin Laden's former driver and bodyguard will be moved from the prison at Guantanamo Bay to serve the rest of his sentence in Yemen. Salim Ahmed Hamdan was convicted by a military commission in August of a war crime -- providing material support to al Qaeda -- but was cleared of more serious terrorism conspiracy charges.
advertisementOsama bin Laden's former driver and bodyguard will be moved from the prison at... more
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Osama bin Laden's driver has been released from Guantanamo Bay. The U.S. has transfered him to Yemen where he will serve the rest of his sentence. He was first thought to be a terrorist mastermind. Now not so much.Osama bin Laden's driver has been released from Guantanamo Bay. The U.S. has... more
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It was quintessential Guantánamo, where things are rarely what they seem. The Pentagon’s spokesmen, for example, repeat like a mantra that the detention camp delivers “safe and humane” care. But military investigators have documented a history that includes treatment of one detainee who was isolated, deprived of sleep and forced to perform dog tricks.
Another military mantra is that the tribunal is open and transparent. But no one can go to this remote naval station to attend the sessions without military orders. At the tribunal itself, where many seats are empty, journalists are accompanied at all times by military escorts, who stand guard even outside the latrine.
So it was in keeping with the contradictions of Guantánamo that the Hamdan trial in many ways looked like an American trial and in many ways did not.
There were secret filings. There were closed sessions. There were unexplained mysteries. After a session was cut short because a participant was said to be ill, a military spokeswoman said it was not Mr. Hamdan. The next day, a different spokeswoman disclosed that it had indeed been Mr. Hamdan, who had, she said, been seen at a hospital for flulike symptoms.It was quintessential Guantánamo, where things are rarely what they seem. The... more
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Osama bin Laden's former driver has been sentenced to almost six years jail after being convicted of supporting terrorism.
A military jury at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba sentenced Salim Hamdan to five and a half years in prison after US prosecutors had asked for at least 30 years.
sentence takes into account time already served by Hamdan since he was charged in 2003.
While the sentence will make him eligible for release in just six months, the Pentagon has already indicated it has no plans to release him.
During his sentencing hearing, Hamdan pleaded for leniency by pointing to the case of Australian David Hicks, who accepted a plea deal on the same charge, and was given seven years in jail.Osama bin Laden's former driver has been sentenced to almost six years jail after... more
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GUANTÁNAMO BAY, Cuba — - A panel of six military officers convicted a former driver for Osama bin Laden of a war crime Tuesday, completing the first military commission trial here and the first conducted by the United States since the end of World War II.
The military commission conviction of the former driver, Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a Yemeni who was part of a select group of drivers and bodyguards for Mr. bin Laden until 2001, was a long-sought, if some what qualified, victory for the Bush administration, which has been working to begin military commission trials at the isolated naval base here for nearly seven years.
The commission acquitted Mr. Hamdan of a conspiracy charge, arguably the more serious of two charges he faced, but convicted him of a separate charge of providing material support for terrorism.
GUANTÁNAMO BAY, Cuba — - A panel of six military officers convicted a... more
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A jury of six military officers at Guantanamo Bay reached a split verdict Wednesday in the war crimes trial of a former driver for Osama bin Laden, clearing him of some charges but convicting him of others that could send him to prison for life.A jury of six military officers at Guantanamo Bay reached a split verdict Wednesday in... more
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" Closing arguments began Monday in the trial of Osama bin Laden's former driver, Salim Hamdan, the first inmate at the Guantanamo jail to face a full-scale trial before the special tribunals created by President George W. Bush.
Hamdan, a Yemeni national about 40 years old, is accused of conspiracy and material support to terrorism, and faces a possible sentence of life in prison if a jury of six military officers finds him guilty.
A verdict could be handed down as early as Monday afternoon in the trial, underway at the prison camp on a US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba since July 21.
"He was an Al-Qaeda warrior," said John Murphy, a Justice Department prosecutor. "He pledged bayat to Osama bin Laden," Murphy said, using the Arabic word for a pledge of allegiance.
Lawyers for Hamdan, who has already spent six years behind bars at Guantanamo, have questioned the fairness of the proceedings and argued that Hamdan was an insignificant figure while employed by bin Laden from 1998 to 2001, saying he was not involved in any way in Al-Qaeda operations.
"This is a classic case of guilt by association," said Lieutenant Commander Brian Mizer, an assigned military defense lawyer for Hamdan. Mizer described Hamdan as a driver with a fourth-grade education, motivated by financial gain not ideological passion.
"Mr Hamdan is not an Al-Qaeda warrior, he is not Al-Qaeda's last line of defense," Mizer said. "He's not even an Al-Qaeda member."
"You should not punish the general's driver today with the crimes of the general."
Once closing arguments wrap up, military jurors will immediately begin their deliberations amid predictions from human rights groups that Hamdan will likely be found guilty on at least some of the charges. "
" Closing arguments began Monday in the trial of Osama bin Laden's former... more
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The first Guantanamo war crimes trial began Monday with a not guilty plea from a former driver and alleged bodyguard for Osama bin Laden.The first Guantanamo war crimes trial began Monday with a not guilty plea from a... more
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