Just Foreign Policy Iraqi Death Estimator    

Thursday, August 07, 2008

The jury's decision, after just 70 minutes of deliberation, was a huge rebuke to the U.S. government

''What happened — despite the system — is justice,'' said Swift.
Bin Laden's driver gets light sentence, thanks military jury
By Carol Rosenberg Miami Herald
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, Cuba — In a stunning rebuke, a six-member U.S. military jury Thursday ignored a Pentagon prosecutor's plea for a 30 years-plus term and ordered Osama bin Laden's driver to 66 months in prison.
With credit for time served given by the judge, that means Salim Hamdan, 40, of Yemen will be sent back to the general detainee population of Camp Delta by January, and eligible to return home.
Choked with emotion on hearing the sentence, Hamdan stood and addressed the jury, unscripted, and twice more apologized for any pain his work as a $200-a-month driver had caused.
''And I would like to thank you for what you have done for me,'' he said.
The jury's decision, after just 70 minutes of deliberation, was a huge rebuke to the U.S. government, which had insisted that on his conviction for material support for terror no less than 30 years confinement would suffice.
He is the first war-on-terror captive convicted at the first contested U.S. war crimes tribunal since World War II.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home

free hit counter