Military Jury Convicts Bin Laden’s Driver of Supporting Terrorism

Guantanamo/Detainees

Military Jury Convicts Bin Laden’s Driver of Supporting Terrorism

Posted Aug 6, 2008, 08:42 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss

The driver for Osama bin Laden has been found guilty of supporting terrorism in a trial before a military commission at Guantanamo Bay.

The military jury announced its verdict this morning against Salim Hamdan, the first detainee to face trial, the Miami Herald reports. He was acquitted of a more serious charge of conspiracy but convicted of providing material support for terrorism.

A military jury of six officers deliberated for about eight hours over three days before reaching the verdict, the Associated Press reports. Hamdan faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. He put his head in his hands and cried as he heard the verdict.

The New York Times story calls the verdict "a long-sought, if somewhat qualified, victory for the Bush administration."

Observers had told the Washington Post in a story published last month that the administration’s likely goal in Hamdan’s trial was to establish the credibility of the military commissions and keep them operating as a new president takes office. They said a conviction of providing material support for terrorism would be relatively easy to obtain.

The government introduced testimony at trial that Hamdan transported weapons and continued to work for bin Laden even though he was aware of terrorist activities after the fact.

Hamdan’s lawyers contend the military commission process is unconstitutional, but their claims were not resolved before the trial.

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