Salim Hamdan
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| Salim Ahmed Hamdan | |
|---|---|
| Born: | 1970 (age 37–38) - Wadi Hadhramaut, Yemen |
| Detained at: | Guantanamo Bay camp |
| Alias(s): | Saqr al-Jedawi [1] |
| ID number: | 149[2] |
| Alleged to be a member of: |  al-Qaeda |
| Conviction(s): | Conspiracy and providing material support for terrorism but charges were dropped on June 5, 2007 [3] |
| Spouse: | Um Fatima |
| Children: | two daughters born 2000, 2002 |
Salim Ahmed Hamdan (born ~1970[1])) is a Yemeni, captured during the invasion of Afghanistan, and imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay. He admits to being Osama bin Laden's personal driver and bodyguard, claiming he needed the $200 monthly salary the position offered.[4]
He was charged with "conspiracy and providing material support for terrorism" but charges were dropped on June 5, 2007 [3]
Contents |
[edit] Trial timeline
On July 14, 2004, the Department of Defense formally charged Salim Ahmed Hamdan with conspiracy, for trial by military commission under the President’s Order of November 13, 2001.[5][6]
On November 8, 2004 the United States District Court for the District of Columbia halted Hamdan's military commission because no "competent tribunal" had determined whether Mr Hamdan was a POW (as required by the Geneva Conventions), and because regardless of such determination, the commission violated the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ).
On October 22, 2004, General John D. Altenburg, the retired officer in overall charge of the commissions, removed three of the six presiding officers to avoid the potential of bias.[7]
The Bush administration appealed the ruling that halted the military commissions. In the meantime, the Department of Defense started Combatant Status Review Tribunals of all the Guantanamo detainees. The tribunals extended from July 2004 through March 2005.
On July 17, 2005, a three-judge panel on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit overturned Hamdan's appeal.[8][9] The panel said that the Geneva Convention does not apply to members of al-Qaida. The military commissions were set back in motion. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts was one of the judges on that panel, and voted against Hamdan's appeal, shortly before being nominated for Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
On November 7, 2005, the Supreme Court issued a writ of certiorari agreeing to review the decision of the DC Circuit Court.[10] Roberts recused himself due to his earlier participation in the case.
On June 29, 2006, the Supreme Court ruled in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld that the military commissions ordered for Hamdan and other detainees violated the UCMJ and the Geneva Convention.[11]
[edit] Combatant Status Review
Initially the Bush administration asserted they could withhold the protections of the Geneva Conventions from captives in the War on Terror, while critics argued the Conventions obligated the United States to conduct competent tribunals to determine the status of prisoners. Subsequently the Department of Defense instituted Combatant Status Review Tribunals, to determine whether the captives met the new definition of an "enemy combatant".
From July 2004 through March 2005, a CSRT was convened to make a determination whether each captive had been correctly classified as an "enemy combatant". Salim Hamdan among the two-thirds of prisoners who chose to participate in their tribunals.[12]
A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for the tribunal, listing the alleged facts that led to his detainment. Salim Hamdan's memo accused him of the following: [13]
- a. Detainee is a member of al Qaida.
- Detainee admits that he served as a personal driver to Usama Bin Laden (UBL) both before and after the attacks of September 11, 2001.
- In addition to serving as UBL's driver, detainee served as a member of UBL's bodyguard detachment and armed himself with a weapon.
- In the above roles, detainee gained substantial knowledge of al Qaida operations and came in contact with a number of highly placed al Qaida figures, such as Abu Hafs [sic] , Saif Al Adel [sic] (al Qaida Security Chief), and Abu Zabaydah [sic] .
- One of detainee's known aliases was on a list of captured al Qaida members that was discovered on a computer hard drive associated with a senior Al-Qaida member.
- b. Detainee engaged in hostilities against the US or its coalition partners.
- While detainee denies ever personally receiving training at the Al-Farouq training camp, he admits transporting UBL there, so UBL could provide training and lectures to al Qaida trainees.
- Detainee was captured in a vehicle by Northern Alliance forces in the vicinity of Kandahar in possession of a weapon.
Hamdan's transcript was nine pages long.[14] Eight pages of it were consumed with exhausting translation problems, and trying to clarify which documents, sent by Hamdan's lawyer, to Hamdan, should be submitted to the Tribunal.
Hamdan was asked one question -- was he forced to drive for bin Laden, or was he recruited? Hamdan referred the Tribunal to his affidavit.
There is a hand-written note on the final page of his transcript saying that: "affidavits not provided as they are filed under seal in federal court."
Documents show that Hamdan was beaten and threatened by members of the Afghani Northern Alliance after engaging them in combat, but before being handed over to U.S. forces. Once under U.S. custody he was deemed a high ranking terrorist with possible knowledge of Usama Bin Laden's whereabouts. He experienced intense interrogation methods, and was kept in isolation for upwards of eight months.
On July 14, 2004, under congressional AUMF authority the Department of Defense formally referred charges against Hamdan, for trial by military commission under the President’s Order of November 13, 2001. He was charged with terrorist activities including serving as Osama Bin Laden’s personal bodyguard and driver.
Hamdan purchased vehicles for Bin Laden’s security detail which were used to evade capture after the attacks on September 11, 2001 and delivered weapons to al Qaeda members after U.S. military operations began in Afghanistan.
[edit] Supreme Court opinion
On June 29, 2006, the Supreme Court delivered its opinion in Hamdan v Rumsfeld. Justice Roberts recused himself due to earlier participation in the case as a judge on the DC circuit court prior to his nomination for chief justice. The case also considered whether the Supreme Court had the jurisdiction to enforce the articles of the 1949 Geneva convention and whether Congress had the power to prevent the Court from reviewing the case of an accused enemy combatant before his military commission. In a 5-3 plurality, the Court held that the military commisions which were established to try the detainees at Guantanamo Bay lack "the power to proceed because its structures and procedures violate both the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the four Geneva Conventions signed in 1949."[15] The ruling specifies Common Article 3 of the Third Geneva Convention as the provision that was violated.
In response to the Supreme Court decision, Congress passed the Military Commissions Act of 2006, in an attempt grant the President the necessary authority to create the commissions. Hamdan's trial is scheduled to begin in June 2006.
[edit] Charged under the Military Commissions Act
New charges were laid against Hamdan on May 10, 2007.[16]
- Further information: Military Commissions Act
Hamdan is charged with conspiracy and providing support for terrorism.[16] According to the Houston Chronicle, Lieutenant Commander Charles Swift, Hamdan's lawyer, argued that conspiracy charges were inappropriate for junior people like Hamdan. According to the Houston Chronicle, Commander Jeffrey Gordon, a DoD spokesman, disputed the assertion that Hamdan was just a low-level player.
[edit] Charges Dismissed
In two separate rulings all charges were dropped against Hamdan and Canadian youth Omar Khadr, on the 4th June 2007.[17][18] Army Judge Colonel Peter Brownback, and US Navy Judge Captain Keith J. Allred, ruled that the men's Combatant Status Review Tribunals had merely confirmed the men's enemy combatants status; while the Military Commissions Act only gave the Guantanamo Military Commissions the authority to try "unlawful enemy combatants", they lacked the jurisdiction to try the men. James Westhead of the BBC said that the court ruling, which affects all 380 Guantanamo inmates, represents a "stunning blow" against the Bush administrations efforts at bringing the inmates to trial.[19]
According to the BBC, following the rulings, the US government appears to have three legal options open to it:[19]
- Scrap the legal process and start again.
- Redefine the inmates as "unlawful" enemy combatants at a separate hearing.
- Appeal the court ruling. But there is no appeals court, the "military commission review" has not been set up yet.
According to the Washington Post the ruling made more likely the passage of a Senate bill restoring access to the US Court system to the Guantanamo captives.[18] The Washington Post speculated that the ruling might force whatever trials take place to take place in the civilian court system, or in the already established military courts martial system.
[edit] Deemed an "illegal enemy combatant"
On December 21, 2007 Allred heard arguments, and made his ruling, that Hamdan was an "illegal enemy combatant", who could be tried by a military commission.[20] Lieutenant Brian Mizer, one of Hamdan's lawyers, said his team had introduced evidence that:
"...to suggest that, if the weapons at issue were in the car he was driving at the time he was apprehended, Mr. Hamdan was doing nothing more than transporting conventional weapons of war in the direction of a conventional battleground in support of a known enemy combatant engaged in an international armed conflict,"
[edit] February 8, 2008 hearing
A hearing was convened on February 8, 2008.[21]
[edit] Mental stability
Hamdan's lawyers have filed a request with Allred requesting he be moved from solitary confinement.[22][23][24] They argue that solitary confinement is having such a negative impact on his mental stability that it is impairing his ability to assist in his own defense.
Andrea Prasow wrote:
"I do not believe that Mr. Hamdan will be able to materially assist in his own defense if his conditions do not improve.
His attorneys say he had only been allowed two exercise periods in the previous month.[22]
Hamdan had been housed in camp 4, the camp for the most compliant captives until December 2006.[22] Captives in camp 4 wear white uniforms, sleep in communal dormitories and can use an exercise yard and mingle with other captives for up to 20 hours a day. Hamdan was moved to camp 5, where captives spend almost the entire day in isolation in a windowless cell.
Emily Keram, a psychologist examined Hamdan and, according to the Seattle Post Intelligencer:
"...said he shows signs of post-traumatic stress disorder and could be at risk for "suicidal thoughts and behavior."
Hamdan's lawyers compared the treatment accorded to Omar Khadr with that accorded to Hamdan. They have requested Khadr appear before Allred to explain why he was housed in Camp Four. They pointed out that Khadr had been allowed a phone call to his family.
According to the International Herald Tribune, his lawyers said
"he is suicidal, hears voices, has flashbacks, talks to himself and says the restrictions of Guantánamo "boil his mind."
[edit] Missing records
Hamdan's Defense expressed a concern that the Prosecution had been withholding some of Hamdan's records from them.[21] Lieutenant Commander Timothy Stone told Allred that they had turned over copies of records, except for those from 2002 -- which they had been unable to locate. However, he assured Allred they were still looking for them.
Chief Prosecutor Colonel Lawrence Morris guessed that the missing files contained "generally innocuous stuff"[21]:
"It depends on how you characterize a record . . . there are records that show what a guy eats for a meal. Every statement . . . that we are in possession of . . . the defense has."
[edit] Access to the high value detainees
Hamdan's lawyers requested access to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the other thirteen high value detainees.[21] Chief Prosecutor Morris replied:
"We can't . . . just provide them the opportunity (to) just knock on a cell and go walking through the compound seeking information."
Allred postponed ruling on Hamdan's lawyer's request.[26]
[edit] Boycott
On April 29, after seven years of cooperation, Hamdan announced he was joining the on-going Boycott of Guantanamo Military Commissions, stating stating "America tells the whole world that it has freedom and justice. I do not see that...There are almost 100 detainees here. We do not see any rights. You do not give us the least bit of humanity...Give me a just court...Try me with a just law.'"[27]
[edit] References
- ^ a b Mahler, Jonathan (2006-01-08). The Bush Administration vs. Salim Hamdan. New York Times. Retrieved on 2007-08-01.
- ^ List of Individuals Detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba from January 2002 through May 15, 2006 (PDF). U.S. Department of Defense (2006-05-15). Retrieved on 2007-09-09.
- ^ a b Tran, Mark (2007-06-05). Profile: Salim Ahmed Hamdan (HTML). The Guardian. Retrieved on 2007-08-01.
- ^ CanWest News Service, Lawyer alleges preferential treatment of Khadr, April 8 2008
- ^ [http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/tribunals/ushamdan704.html U.S. v. Salim Ahmed Hamdan Military Tribunal Conspiracy Charges]. U.S. government (2001-11-13). Retrieved on 2007-08-01.
- ^ The Case of Salim Ahmed Hamdan. humanrightsfirst.org (2007). Retrieved on 2007-08-01.
- ^ White, Josh. "Panel for Detainees' Cases Cut in Half", Washington Post, 2004-10-22, p. A12.
- ^ "In limbo at 'Gitmo': Appeals court rules against detainees", Sacramento Bee, 2005-07-25, p. B4.
- ^ High Court Asked to Take Guantanamo Case. ABC News (Associated Press) (2005-08-09).
- ^ Supreme Court to Hear Tribunals Challenge. The Guardian (2005-11-07).
- ^ Denniston, Lyle (2006-06-29). Decisions: Hamdan decided, military commissions invalid. SCOTUSblog.
- ^ OARDEC, Index to Transcripts of Detainee Testimony and Documents Submitted by Detainees at Combatant Status Review Tribunals Held at Guantanamo Between July 2004 and March 2005, September 4, 2007
- ^ OARDEC (16 September 2004). Summary of Evidence for Combatant Status Review Tribunal -- Hamdan, Salim Ahmed Salim page 48. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-12-04.
- ^ OARDEC (date redacted). Summarized Transcript from Salim Ahmed Hamdan's Combatant Status Review Tribunal (PDF) 53-61. U.S. Department of Defense.
- ^ Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, Supreme Court Syllabus, pg. 4., point 4.
- ^ a b "After 5 years at Gitmo, alleged bin Laden aide charged", Houston Chronicle, 2007-05-10. Retrieved on 2007-06-01.
- ^ Carol Rosenberg. "War court tosses case against young captive", Miami Herald, 2007-06-04. Retrieved on 2007-06-04.
- ^ a b "Stuck in Guantanamo: President Bush tried to create a new legal system for terrorism suspects. He created a quagmire instead.", Washington Post, 2007-06-07, p. A26. Retrieved on 2007-06-07.
- ^ a b "Guantanamo pair charges dropped", BBC News, 2007-06-05. Retrieved on 2007-06-05.
- ^ "US military judge denies bin Laden's driver POW status", Agence France Presse, December 21, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-12-21.
- ^ a b c d Steven Edwards. "Records missing at Guantanamo Bay", Canwest News Service, Thursday, February 7, 2008. Retrieved on 2008-02-01.
- ^ a b c Michael Melia. "Lawyers: Gitmo Detainee Breaking Down", Seattle Times, Friday, February 8, 2008. Retrieved on 2008-02-09.
- ^ Steven Edwards. "Isolation driving former bin Laden driver 'towards mental instability'", Canwest News Service, Friday, February 8, 2008. Retrieved on 2008-02-09.
- ^ Mike Rosen-Molina. "Hamdan lawyers urge judge to drop military commission charges", The Jurist, Thursday, February 7, 2008. Retrieved on 2008-02-09.
- ^ Guantánamo drives prisoners insane, lawyers say, By William Glaberson, April 26, 2008, International Herald Tribune
- ^ Michael Melia. "Judge Mulls Bin Laden's Driver Request", Associated Press, February 9, 2008. Retrieved on 2008-02-09.
- ^ Colson, Deborah. Human Rights First, Another Boycott at Guantánamo, Another Test for the Military Commission System, April 30 2008
[edit] External links
- Charge Sheets (.pdf), Department of Defense
- Commissions Transcripts, Exhibits, and Allied Papers, Department of Defense
- Commission Scheduling, Department of Defense
- Detailed January 8, 2006, New York Times article on Hamdan case.
- Justice System For Detainees Is Moving At a Crawl Washington Post May 6, 2008
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