Bin Laden driver gets 66 months
8/8/08
A military jury has sentenced the former driver of Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader, to five and a half years in prison for supporting terrorism. The sentence delivered on Thursday means that Salim Hamdan, a Yemeni citizen, would be eligible for release in less than six months. However, the US government has previoulsy argued that it has the right to continue to hold Guantanamo detainees as “enemy combatants”. Prosecutors had earlier called for Hamdan to serve at least 30 years in jail after being convicted the previous day of providing support to al-Qaeda, although he was cleared of conspiracy to commit war crimes.
See: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2008/08/ 200887194744667647.html
Let US courts deal with suspects
7/8/08
A verdict has been delivered, but justice has not been done and the so-called war on terror has not been served well. Salim Hamdan was found guilty of providing material support for terrorism by a Guantanamo military commission. Since the Second World War, Hamdan, who admitted to working as Osama Bin Laden’s driver and occasional bodyguard, was the first person to face a US war crimes tribunal. The uniformed jurors cleared him of conspiring in terrorist attacks. But this case proves that the military commissions do not work. During one of the commission’s private sessions, Hamdan made an offer to provide assistance in capturing his former boss.
See: http://www.gulfnews.com/opinion/editorial_opinion/region/10235429.html
Tags: Editorial, Guantanamo Bay, Iraq, Terrorism, USA