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Is the Hamdan Sentence a Sham?
Yesterday's decision by a panel of military officers at Guantanamo Bay to sentence Salim Ahmed Hamdan to five and a half years in prison came as a surprise to many. Given that the military judge presiding over the trial, Navy Capt. Keith J. Allred, had already decided to credit the former driver for Osama bin Laden for the 61 months he has already been held, the sentence means he could finish serving his time in just five months -- a far cry from the 30-year sentence sought by prosecutors. "Mr. Hamdan," Judge Allred spoke to him as he left the courtroom yesterday, "I hope the day comes that you are able to return to your wife and daughters and your country."
But will it? In the answer to that question lies the truth about this sentencing. The United States has designated Hamdan as an "enemy combatant." As long as he remains such, the United States may be unwilling to release him, even after his sentence runs out. As The New York Times reports, even the judge and the prosecutors were unsure yesterday whether Hamdan would be released after completing his sentence. "It was all for show if Mr. Hamdan does not go home in December," said his lawyer, Charles D. Swift. Defense lawyers said they believed Hamdan would be released, because to hold him would cause international outrage, NPR reports. But a Pentagon spokesman, Navy Cmdr. Jeffrey Gordon, told Associated Press that he could not speculate on whether Hamdan would be freed. "I can reassure you that the Defense Department is hard at work on this issue," he said.
And then there are the appeals. Hamdan's guilty verdict is automatically appealed to a special military court in Washington, according to AP. A lawyer I spoke to with knowledge of military law said the appeals process could drag on for years. So while it may be true, as the blog Sentencing Law and Policy says, that "the jury sent a strong message to the U.S. government," it remains to be seen what message the government will send in response. Will it thumb its nose at the sentence and continue to hold Hamdan? All we can answer is, stay tuned.
Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on August 8, 2008 at 05:23 PM | Permalink
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