Hamdan's case raises questions in legal war on terror

The government had fought for four years to detain Salim Hamdan and put him on trial before the special military tribunals in Guantanamo, arguing that he was a dangerous terrorist whose case could not be tried properly in a regular U.S. court.

But Hamdan and his elated defense lawyers celebrated in the courtroom Thursday after a jury of six military officers cleared the Yemeni of the most serious charge of conspiracy and imposed a remarkably light sentence, making him eligible for release in about five months.

Colonel Steven David, chief defense counsel at the tribunals, said the prosecution had been "overreaching" when it pushed for the conspiracy charge and a 30-year prison term.

David said the commissions system needed to be scrapped and terror cases turned over to established courts, noting that the trial -- the first before the special tribunals -- was marked by the acceptance of hearsay evidence and secret testimony, restrictions on media coverage, and allegations of abusive interrogations.

"I only hope someone will step forward to right the commission system and put this mess in the federal courts or in the military justice system and start to restore the honor and integrity of our nation’s legal reputation," David told reporters at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Prosecutors, looking subdued after the proceedings, insisted they respected the jurys findings and said the commissions system had proven itself.

"The U.S. government has brought the case and shown that the process can be fair," said military prosecutor Lieutenant Commander Timothy Stone. "As a whole the process worked."

President George W. Bush's administration has defended the Guantanamo tribunals as the best way to protect sensitive intelligence information while trying terror suspects who are neither common criminals nor soldiers from a conventional army.

Human rights groups said the verdict calls into question the legitimacy of the commissions.

"I think the end result of the verdict today in this case is a bright light in a very dark and deeply flawed system," Carol Chodroff of Human Rights Watch, who observed the proceedings in Guantanamo, told AFP. "The Bush administration should get the message and close the military commissions system," she said.

Critics argue the government could have avoided years of legal challenges and even secured a tougher sentence if the case had been tried in a regular court.

As an example, they cite the case of John Walker Lindh, an American captured in Afghanistan and convicted in federal court of a similar charge. He was sentenced to 20 years.

A civilian lawyer in Hamdan’s defense team, Joseph McMillan, said the trial was a tribute to the independence of U.S. military officers serving on the jury, who he said were not ready to sacrifice legal principles.

"I think what happened today is a demonstration that the American military has a commitment to honor and justice and it sent a shot, a loud shot, across the bow of those who would seek to use it as an instrument for their political purposes," McMillan said.

The Hamdan case also put a spotlight on the extraordinary rules for the U.S.-prison in Guantanamo, where the Bush administration has maintained it can hold terror suspects indefinitely without charge.

After the sentence was handed down, the judge, Navy officer Keith Allred, could not say if Hamdan would be released once he served his term for his conviction.

"After that I don’t know what happens," Allred told Hamdan, adding that detainee might be more familiar with the prison procedures.

"Apparently you become eligible for administrative review," he said, when a panel of military officers will decide if Hamdan still poses a threat.

The end of Hamdan’s sentence in December coincides with the end of Bush’s term in January 2009, possibly leaving the question of his detention to the next president, said Michael Navarre, a former military attorney based in Washington.

"The next administration will inherit a real problem with this case," Navarre said. "There will likely be a lot of pressure to release Hamdan."

U.S. authorities said Hamdan would be held apart from other inmates at the Guantanamo prison in conditions that defense lawyers say amount to solitary confinement.

The Hamdan case was seen as a dress rehearsal for trials of more high-profile suspects.

Officials have said they plan to try in coming months the alleged mastermind of the September 11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and his associates.

More than 800 inmates have passed through Guantanamo’s gates since it opened in late 2001, with about 270 detainees still incarcerated.

Photo: AP