Bin Laden’s driver not a POW
The military judge overseeing the designation of detainees held at the U.S. naval detention facility at Guantanamo Bay ruled the former driver and bodyguard of Osama bin Laden is eligible to face a war crimes tribunal. Navy Capt. Keith Allred denied the defense arguments that Salim Ahmed Hamdan is a prisoner-of-war and thus ineligible to proceed under the confines of international law as defined by the Guantanamo tribunals.
Allred said Hamdan’s relationship with bin Laden and the duties he carried out for the al Qaeda leader provides credible evidence his designation fits the legal definition for prosecution by the tribunal. “The government has carried its burden of showing … that the accused is an alien unlawful enemy combatant,” Allred said in the ruling.
The Pentagon sees the ruling as a victory as it stumbles to adequately prosecute suspected terrorists at the prison facility amid sweeping legal challenges and Supreme Court rulings. The Supreme Court heard a package of cases on Dec. 6, Boumediene v. Bush, examining the rights to counsel of Guantanamo detainees. The government argues that the Military Commissions Act of 2006 strips the federal courts of its jurisdiction to hear habeas challenges and questions the very rights of detainees to challenge their detention carte blanch.
The Allred decision on Hamdan paves the way for a military trial to proceed by spring 2008. “This is a sign that we will move forward,” said the legal advisor to the tribunal, Air Force Brig. Gen. Thomas Hartmann. The military formally charged three of the nearly three hundred detainees with charges of conspiracy to commit terrorist acts or affiliating with al Qaeda. Two cases, Hamdan’s and Canadian Omar Khadr, are furthest along procedurally. Theirs would be the first U.S. military tribunals held since Word War II prosecutions.
Hamdan faces a life sentence in prison if convicted of conspiracy, which was categorized as a war crime by U.S. law in amendments to the Uniform Military Code of Justice. Afghan troops captured Hamdan in Afghanistan in Nov. 2001 transporting two surface-to-air missiles.
Navy Lt. Brian Mizer, Hamdan’s military lawyer, said the ruling was a disappointment and said he may proceed with appeals if Hamdan is convicted. “I think the evidence was that he was a prisoner of war,” Mizer said. “He was caught taking conventional weapons to a conventional force (the Taliban) and … it’s not a crime to be a soldier.”
None of the detainees at Guantanamo Bay have faced a trial. David Hicks, an Australian national formally held at the prison facility, side-stepped a trial following a plea agreement. Several other detainees, including recent British nationals, have been returned to their native countries to face prosecution there or through extradition.