Washington - The former driver for Osama bin Laden, Salim
Hamdan, was found guilty on Wednesday of providing material support
for terrorism in the first trial of a detainee at Guantanamo Bay,
Cuba.
Hamdan, 37, was found not guilty of the more serious charge of
conspiracy to commit terrorism, but still faces a possible life
imprisonment in the sentencing phase that got underway Wednesday
afternoon, Major Gail Crawford, a spokeswoman for the military
tribunals said from Guantanamo.
The six-officer military jury arrived at the verdict after a trial
that lasted just more than two weeks and after jury deliberations
that began on Monday.
Hamdan's case was the first to go to trial in the military
commissions ordered by President George W Bush, and also the
beginning of the first US military tribunals since World War II.
Hamdan is the second conviction under the commissions. Australian
David Hicks pleaded guilty in 2007 and was sent back to has native
country to serve out the remainder of his sentence. He is now free.
The trial's outcome was criticized by human rights groups who have
charge the tribunal process is unfair and designed to produce
convictions.
'Any verdict resulting from such a flawed system is a betrayal of
American values,' said Anthony Romero, executive director of the
American Civil Liberties Union. 'The rules for the Guantanamo
military commissions are so flawed that justice could never be
served.'
Hamdan was captured in 2001 in Afghanistan and has been held at
Guantanamo since May 2002. He is among the 20 of Guantanamo's 265
detainees facing war crimes charges. The Pentagon plans to charge an
additional 80 suspects.
The US government alleges that Hamdan, a Yemeni, was a member of
al-Qaeda terrorist network leader Osama bin Laden's inner circle and
was aware of terrorist plots. The defence argued that Hamdan merely
served as a driver and was not involved in terrorism.
In written answers to questions posed by Hamdan's defence
attorneys, the alleged mastermind of the September 11, 2001,
terrorist attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, said that Hamdan was a
low-level driver and mechanic who was not educated and in no position
to support terrorism or have knowledge of potential plots.
Mohammed, who is also held at Guantanamo, refused to testify in
court. He and four co-defendants are set to be tried later this year
in connection with the September 11 attacks and face the death
penalty if convicted.
Prosecutors on Tuesday argued the judge, Navy Captain Keith
Allred, had incorrectly issued instructions to the jury by refusing
to declare that the killing of lawful combatants by unlawful
combatants constituted a war crime.
The defence replied that any change in instructions would be
grounds for a mistrial.
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