"Get outta your cave, get into my car"...Bin Laden's driver released from Gitmo

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Salim Ahmed Hamdan, in 1999.

BEIRUT, Lebanon -- The United States military has decided to release a former driver for Osama bin Laden whose trial became a test case for the Bush administration's system of military commissions for accused terrorists, Yemeni officials said.

was captured in Afghanistan in 2001 and convicted and sentenced in August, will be released from Guantanamo Bay detention center in the coming days and transferred to his native Yemen, where he will serve the remaining month of his sentence, according to the Yemeni officials.

Once considered a dangerous terrorist by the Bush administration, Mr. Hamdan was convicted only on lesser charges in August and given what amounted to a four-month sentence by a military jury. At that time, a military judge gave Mr. Hamdan credit for at least the 61 months he was held after being charged, reducing his sentence to a matter of months. The verdict was a sharp setback for Pentagon officials, who had contended they could detain him indefinitely.

"The Yemeni government is very pleased by the announcement to transfer the Yemeni detainee Saleh Ahmed bin Hamdan," said Mohammed al Basha, a spokesman for the Yemeni Embassy in Washington. "We hope that this will be a positive first step to the transfer of the remaining detainees."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/26/washington/26gitmo.html?_r=2&hp&oref=slogin

[leftchick]

1. he has been tortured for the last seven years

and that is why his case went bust. Fuck bush!

http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/us_law/inthecourts/supreme_court_hamdan.htm

<snip>

Hearings in his case resumed on February 7, 2008, when Hamdan's defense counsel moved to dismiss both charges of conspiracy and providing material support for terrorism on ex post facto grounds, which prohibits prosecution of conduct that was not legally considered a crime at the time it was committed. Hamdan's defense also renewed their request to interview seven "high value detainees" at Guant�namo who could corroborate Hamdan's innocence. The government rejected this request, despite numerous proposals designing the interviews to adhere to national security constraints. Prior to the hearing, affidavits by a psychiatrist and one of Hamdan's lawyers described the deterioration of his mental state since being moved without justification to solitary confinement in Camps 5 and 6, which lacks natural light and air and is more restrictive than Camp 4. The defense has alleged that Hamdan is suffering from suicidal tendencies, nightmares, insomnia, and post-traumatic stress disorder, and therefore has been unable to focus on his defense. Defense has requested that Hamdan be transferred out of solitary confinement.

At additional pretrial hearings on April 28, 2008, the defense moved to dismiss Hamdan's case based on unlawful command influence. Defense counsel called former chief prosecutor Col. Morris Davis to testify. Col. Davis served as the chief prosecutor until October 2007 when he resigned in protest. On the stand, Col. Davis criticized the government's apparent willingness to rely on tortured evidence, and he stated that the system is being run by politically-motivated administration appointees who have repeatedly attempted to interfere with the professional judgment of the chief prosecutor and the members of his staff. During these same hearings, Hamdan repeatedly asserted that changes made to the military commissions system had the effect of circumventing his legal victories and emphasizing the system's lack of integrity. He eventually boycotted the proceedings altogether by refusing to return the courtroom.

In a written ruling on May 9, 2008, Judge Allred made a finding of unlawful command influence and disqualified Legal Advisor General Hartmann from any further involvement in Hamdan's case.

On June 12, 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the case of Boumediene v. Bush that Guant�namo detainees have the constitutional right to habeas corpus. Habeas corpus is the right to challenge the factual basis for detention before an impartial judge in U.S. federal court. Subsequently, Hamdan's lawyers filed a motion in federal court seeking to delay Hamdan's military commission trial -- scheduled to begin on July 21 -- to permit them to challenge his detention and the legality of the military commission process before a federal judge. On July 17, 2008, U.S. District Judge James Robertson refused to postpone Hamdan's military commission trial.� Judge Robertson ruled that federal court review is appropriate only after the military commission trial has occurred.

Meanwhile, at additional pretrial hearings during the week of July 14, 2008, Judge Allred rejected two defense motions to dismiss on constitutional grounds.� On July 16, Judge Allred rejected a motion to dismiss on ex post facto grounds, finding that "conspiracy and material support for terrorism have traditionally been considered violations of the law of war.''� On July 17, Judge Allred rejected a motion to dismiss on equal protection grounds. �He found that detainees are receiving sufficient privileges and that the Equal Protection Clause need not apply.

The same week, defense counsel alleged that new records turned over by the government indicate that, in 2003, Hamdan was likely subjected to "Operation Sandman," a sleep deprivation program.� Hamdan's lawyers claimed that he was kept in the program for 50 days.� They argued that such treatment constituted torture and that statements made by their client at this time should be discarded because they were obtained through coercion.� Hamdan's testimony detailed further allegations of abuse involving sexual harassment, isolation and sleep deprivation.�

Judge Allred subsequently denied Hamdan's motion to suppress statements made in Guant�namo, but the judge ordered the government to produce witnesses to testify about the circumstances under which the interrogations were conducted.� Judge Allred also granted a motion to suppress statements made at a detention facility in Bagram, Afghanistan, finding that statements made by Hamdan at the prison were obtained by coercive means. �

Mr. Hamdan's military commission trial began on July 21, 2008. �Mr. Hamdan entered a plea of not guilty before the start of the trial, following which six military officers were selected to sit on the military commission panel that will decide Mr. Hamdan's fate.