A jury of six military officers at Guantanamo Bay has reached a split verdict in the war crimes trial of a former driver for Usama bin Laden, clearing him of some counts but convicting him on others that could send him to prison for life.
Salim Hamdan, a Yemeni, faces up to a life sentence after the 10-day trial, which provided the first demonstration of a special tribunal system for prosecuting alleged terrorists.
Four of the six officers on the jury must agree on a conviction, according to the system's rules.
Defense lawyers feared a guilty verdict was inevitable.
| That the jury found him not guilty on a couple counts won't matter to them at all ... |
The rules of the tribunal system at the U.S. Navy base appeared designed to achieve convictions, said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Brian Mizer, Salim Hamdan's Pentagon-appointed attorney. "I don't know if the panel can render fair what has already happened," Mizer told reporters as the jury deliberated.
| Isn't Cmdr. Mizer required to be respectful of the process and people? |
Hamdan's attorneys said the judge allowed evidence that would not have been admitted by any civilian or military U.S. court, and that interrogations at the center of the government's case were tainted by coercive tactics, including sleep deprivation and solitary confinement.
Supporters of the tribunals said the Bush administration's system provided extraordinary due process rights for defendants. "This military judge is to be commended for providing a fair and internationally legally sufficient trial for the accused and the government -- regardless of the ultimate verdict," said Charles "Cully" Stimson, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs.
Hamdan was captured at a roadblock in southern Afghanistan in November 2001 and taken to Guantanamo in May 2002. The military accused him of transporting missiles for al-Qaida and helping bin Laden escape U.S. retribution following the Sept. 11 attacks by driving him around Afghanistan. Defense attorneys said he was merely a low-level bin Laden employee. |