Bin Laden's driver convicted at Guantanamo
A military jury on Wednesday convicted Osama bin Laden's driver of supporting terrorism but acquitted him on more serious charges of conspiring with Al-Qaida to wage murderous attacks, in the first US war crimes trial since World War II.
The trial of Yemeni captive Salim Hamdan at the remote US naval base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba was the first full test of the controversial military tribunal authorized by the Bush administration to try foreign captives on terrorism charges outside the regular US court system.
Supporters of the trial by military commission, including the White House, said it had been vindicated by the split verdict. Human rights and civil liberties groups, and military defense lawyers, condemned the process.
As the subsequent sentencing hearing began, the judge called Hamdan "a small player".
The judge, Navy Captain Keith Allred, said the testimony was irrelevant since Hamdan had been cleared of conspiring with Al-Qaida to carry out any attacks.
While Hamdan was convicted on five counts of providing material support for terrorism, the judge said the charges duplicated each other and ordered that he be sentenced only for one count, which he summarized as "driving Mr bin Laden around Afghanistan."
Defense lawyers said the partial acquittal affirmed their faith in the military officers on the jury but did nothing to remedy fundamental flaws in a system designed to convict on all counts.
The chief Guantanamo prosecutor, Army Colonel Lawrence Morris, said the verdict showed Hamdan was an Al-Qaida warrior whose role went far beyond simply being a driver and should not be equated with "somebody who sold a chicken to a terrorist."
Hamdan, who was captured in Afghanistan in 2001 after the US invasion that followed the Sept 11 attacks, wore a white turban and long white robe topped with a tan blazer as he stood tensely in the courtroom and listened through headphones to the English-Arabic interpreter who relayed the verdict. He raised his hands and wept quietly into them when he heard "guilty."
His case will be reviewed by the Pentagon appointee overseeing the tribunals and then by a special military appeals court. Hamdan could then appeal to the US federal appeals court in Washington and finally to the US Supreme Court.
Agencies
(China Daily 08/08/2008 page58)
