Bin Laden's Driver Gets Five and a Half Years

Bin Laden’s Driver gets five and a half years

During his trial, his lawyers tried to demonstrate that Salim Hamdan was just a lowly employee trying to earn a living and not a “dedicated militant” of Al-Qaeda who had sworn allegiance to Osama bin Laden.

Salim Hamden who has already spent more than six years in Guantanamo has been condemned for “supporting terrorism”.

Bin Laden’s driver, Salim Hamdan, was condemned on Thursday by an American military war crimes tribunal to five and a half years imprisonment for “providing material support for terrorism,” decision which went against the prosecutor’s recommendation of a prison sentence of “no less than 30 years”.

Salim Hamdan, who has already spent more than six years in Guantanamo, will only have to serve a few more months from the date of being charged. The Pentagon, however, has already reminded that he should not be freed. For the United States he is still, in effect, an “enemy combatant”, which allows them to keep him detained indefinitely.

At the tribunal on Thursday, Salim Hamdan presented a personal apology to the innocent victims, saying he was sorry if “anything I did caused them pain.” “It was a sorry…thing to see innocent people killed,” he declared during a hearing to determine the sentence of the accused. According to a psychiatrist presented as a defense witness on Wednesday, the Yemeni national was devastated when seeing the video images of the September 11th attacks shown by the prosecution during his trial.

A Long Legal Battle

Salim Hamdan, who spent more than six years in the Guantanamo prison camp, was found guilty on Wednesday of “providing material support to terrorism.” The military tribunal’s six jury members, did not, however uphold the charges of “conspiracy”. The thirty something defendant appeared for two weeks in a closed trial at a special military court set up by the Bush administration, the first to take place in the United States since the Second World War.

The military war crimes commissions, consisting of special tribunals, were set up in the wake of the September 11th attacks as part of the “War on Terrorism” in order to judge suspects. They have hosted an extremely long judicial battle lasting almost seven years since the attacks took place, this one being the first of another 80 scheduled to take place at the military base. In 2007, the Australian David Hicks, who was the only detainee to have been called before a special tribunal, managed to avoid a trial by pleading guilty in exchange for a reduced sentence of 9 months and his repatriation.

A Military Trial Dressed Up in Civil Guise

The White House, for whom the trial of Salim Hamdan was of critical importance, has declared that it was a “fair trial”, despite the protests of Hamdan’s lawyers. Eager to disarm critics, the Bush administration did everything possible to make it look like a civilian trial, which it clearly wasn’t. Human rights organizations and about 30 journalists were allowed to attend hearings, during which Salim Hamdan was allowed complete freedom of movement.

These arrangements contrast with the conditions of detention complained of by the Al Qaeda founder’s driver when in the witness stand. Salim Hamdan, who was captured at a road block in Afghanistan with two surface to air missiles in his car, spoke of his solitary confinement where he said he had been subjected to sleep deprivation, being woken every hour for 50 days. He also told of an interrogation session during which he was sexually humiliated by a woman.

Once condemned, Salim Hamdan will be kept apart from other prisoners at Guantanamo. Being the only one to have had a trial for the moment, he risks being kept in solitary confinement.