In August 2008, Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a Yemeni who worked as a driver for Osama bin Laden, became the first Guantanamo detainee to go to trial before the military commissions. He was convicted of providing material support for terrorism and sentenced to five-and-a-half years of imprisonment.

Hamdan was captured by Afghan forces and handed over to the US military in late 2001. He was initially charged with conspiracy before the military commission in July 2004. He challenged the legality of the commissions in a case that went to the Supreme Court. In June 2006, the Supreme Court ruled that the military commissions initially authorized by President Bush were unlawful because the president had not obtained congressional authority to establish them. Four months later, in September 2006, Congress passed the Military Commissions Act authorizing a new system of military commissions. In May 2007, Hamdan was charged under these new commissions with conspiracy to commit terrorism and providing material support for terrorism for serving as bin Laden's driver and transporting weapons and other supplies to aid in fighting against US and coalition forces in Afghanistan.

In August 2008, a military jury cleared him of conspiracy charges, finding him guilty only of providing material support. He was sentenced to five-and-a-half years, but given credit for more than five years of time served. Although the Bush administration claimed it had the right hold “unlawful enemy combatants” for as long as the “global war on terror” is under way, US officials reached an agreement by which Hamdan was sent back to Yemen on November 25 to serve the remaining month of his sentence. He was released by Yemeni authorities on January 12, 2009.

Hamdan has claimed that US forces beat, punched and kicked him, as well as held him in stress positions and subjected him to severe cold in Afghanistan. At Guantanamo, Hamdan was reportedly held in solitary confinement in a windowless cell for nearly a year. Evidence to substantiate these allegations - as well as evidence that Hamdan was sexually harassed by interrogators and subjected to sleep deprivation - were presented at his trial, however much of it was classified and presented in secret so the public was kept in the dark about US abuses.

Human Rights Watch has serious concerns about the secrecy surrounding Hamdan's trial, the government's use of inflammatory hearsay evidence, and the possible reliance on evidence that was coerced.

Human Rights Watch Commentary:

• Julia Hall commentary, "Eight Days in Guantanamo," Artvoice (Buffalo, NY), August 18, 2008
• Carol Chodroff commentary, "The Big Guantánamo Embarassment," salon.com, August 12, 2008
• Stacy Sullivan commentary, "Guilty in Guantánamo," salon.com, August 07, 2008
• Human Rights Watch press release, "US: Hamdan Trial Exposes Flaws in Military Commissions," August 6, 2008
• Julia Hall commentary, "The bizarre trial of bin Laden's bodyguard ," salon.com, August 01, 2008
• Human Rights Watch report section, "Locked Up Alone: Detention Conditions and Mental Health at Guantanamo," June 2008
• Jennifer Daskal commentary, "Lawless in Guantanamo," salon.com, May 2, 2008
• Human Rights Watch press release, "US: Move New Guantanamo Cases to Federal Courts," March 10, 2008
• Dinah PoKempner commentary, "Hamdan's Military Commission Hearing," December 7, 2007
• Dinah PoKempner commentary, "Hamdan Military Commission: All of this for a Guy with a Fourth Grade Education who got a Job Working as a Driver?" December 6, 2007
• Jennifer Daskal commentary, "The end of Bush's kangaroo courts?" salon.com, June 6, 2007
• "Questions and Answers on Hamdan v. Rumsfeld," June 23, 2006

Military Commissions Documents:

• Judge's decision to allow testimony Hamdan's defense argued was coerced
• Testimony of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
• Testimony of Walid bin ‘Attash
• General Information Page
• Charges Sworn - February 2, 2007
• Charges Referred - May 10, 2007

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