Osama bin Laden’s driver is convicted
A Military court yesterday convicted Osama bin Laden’s driver of supporting terrorism but acquitted him on the more serious charge of conspiring with Al Quaeda in the first US war crimes trial since World War Two.
The trial of Yemeni captive Salim Hamdan at the remote US naval base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba was the first full test of the controversial tribunal authorised by the Bush administration to try foreign captives on terrorism charges outside the regular US court system.
The White House welcomed the conviction while human rights and civil liberties groups condemned it.
The judge scheduled a sentencing hearing yesterday afternoon for Hamdan, who faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.
The jurors deliberated a little over eight hours before reaching their verdict.
Hamdan, wearing a white turban and long white robe topped with a tan blazer, stood tensely in the courtroom beside his lawyers as the verdict was announced, listening through headphones to the English-Arabic interpreter. He raised his hands and wept into them as the guilty verdict was read.
In Washington, White House spokesman Tony Fratto said the administration was pleased that Hamdan received a fair trial and looked forward to trying other Guantanamo captives.
“The Military Commission system is a fair and appropriate legal process for prosecuting detainees alleged to have committed crimes against the United States or our interests. We look forward to other cases moving forward to trial,” he said.
The American Civil Liberties Union said it viewed the tribunal process as deeply flawed.
“Any verdict resulting from such a flawed system is a betrayal of American values. The rules for the Guantanamo military commissions are so flawed that justice could never be served. From start to finish, this has been a monumental debacle of American justice,” said ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero in a statement.
The jury of military officers heard two weeks of testimony, including that of 10 federal agents who interrogated Hamdan without warning him that his confessions would be used against him in a criminal trial.