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| |  | | Salim Ahmed Hamdan | | | context : | Afghanistan  | | judgement place : | United States | | status : | Sentenced | | particulars : | Found guilty by a Military Comission on 6 August 2008 of providing material support for terrorism and sentenced to five and a half years imprisonment | | position : | Usama bin Laden’s former bodyguard and driver |
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| | | | Afghani militia forces captured Salim Ahmed Hamdan in Afghanistan in late November 2001.
They turned him over to the American military, which transported him to the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba.
On July 13, 2004 Salim Ahmed Hamdan was charged with Conspiracy for joining an enterprise of persons who shared a common criminal purpose and conspired with Osama bin Laden and various other members of the al Qaeda organisation to commit several war crimes like attacking civilians, attacking civilian objects, murder by an unprivileged belligerent, destruction of property by an unprivileged belligerent and terrorism.
Salim Ahmed Hamdan’s case was meant to be judged by the military commissions for foreign citizens in the war on terror, whose jurisdiction is based on the President’s determination of July 3, 2003 that Salim Ahmed Hamdan is subject to his Military Order of November 13, 2001, which instituted the military commission-procedure for certain foreigners in the so-called war against terror.
Hamdan however successfully filed a petition for habeas corpus with the District Court for the District of Columbia. The Court found that the United States could not hold a military commission unless it was first shown that the detainee was not a prisoner of war.
This decision was appealed by the government, and on 25 July 2005, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the Guantánamo Bay prisoners could be tried by military commissions.
Hamdan appealed this judgment with the United States Supreme Court, which argued the case on 28 March 2006.
On June 29, 2006, the Supreme Court ruled that the US President had exceeded his authority in establishing the military commissions at Guantánamo Bay. The Court also ruled that the commissions violated U.S. military law and the Geneva Conventions.
After Congressional passage of the Military Commissions Act, Hamdan was recharged in February 2007 with conspiracy to commit war crimes and material support for terrorism.
Under the new 2006 Military Commissions Act, coerced testimony is allowed and no one subject to such trials "may invoke Geneva Conventions as a source of rights."
A lawsuit brought by Hamdan and Khadr (see "related cases") to challenge the legality of their trials by a military commission was rejected by the US Supreme Court on 30 April 2007.
On 10 May 2007 the Charges against Hamdan were formally referred to a military commission.
During a first arraignment before the Military Commission on 4 June 2007 a US military judge dismissed all charges against Hamdan due to lack of jurisdiction to try him.
The Judge ruled that Congress had created the military tribunals to try only so-called "unlawful'' enemy combatants. The military panel that ruled on Hamdan's status designated him only as an "enemy combatant'' in 2004. Only if Hamdan were an "unlawful'' combatant could his alleged acts be a war crime or murder.
Hamdan will however not be released following this decision. The Bush administration said he might be held as a prisoner until the end of hostilities in the so-called war on international terrorism.
On 1 October 2007 the US Supreme Court refused to hear his case challenging the legality of the military commission system that plans to try him for war crimes.
On 15 December 2007 a US military judge ruled that Hamdan is due a hearing to settle his alleged status as a prisoner of war under the Geneva Conventions and that the determination by a Combatant Status Review Tribunal that he was an "enemy combatant" was no substitute for that. In a POW hearing, a Military Commission Judge would consider whether Hamdan had been captured in connection with an international armed conflict as defined in Article 2 of the Third Geneva Convention. If Hamdan were found to be a POW, he would be unlikely to face trial under the Military Commissions Act of 2006. Article 102 of the Convention holds that a POW can only be punished for a crime if convicted under the same procedure that a US serviceman would face for a criminal military trial. A finding of POW status, however, would also establish the right of the US to detain Hamdan indefinitely until the resolution of the relevant conflict.
His trial before a military commission began on 21 July 2008. Hamdan pleaded not guilty and asked for leniency after apologizing for the deaths caused by his counterparts,
On 6 August 2008, Hamdan was found guilty of providing material support for terrorism through his association with Osama bin Laden and other al Qaeda leaders. A day later, he was sentenced to five and a half years in prison. Hamdan was given credit for the five years he had been detained since charges were first brought against him, meaning he could be released six months later.
The verdict was the first rendered by a military commission trial at Guantanamo Bay. | |     click for more... | | Trial Watch would like to remind its users that any person charged by national or international authorities is presumed innocent until proven guilty. | |  |  | | last time seen : | | | Guantanamo | | | judgement period : | | | 21.07.2008 | | | charges : | | | War crimes | | | profile last modified : | | | 10.08.2008 |
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