Tag: military commission trials
Posted on Mon Jul 21, 2008 at 08:36:00 AM EST
Tags: Guantanamo, detainees, military commission trials, Salim Hamdan (all tags)
Jury selection in the military commission trial of Guantanamo detainee Salim Hamdan is set to begin Monday morning.
In a nutshell: The Government has charged Hamdan, a driver for Osama bin Laden, mostly with acts that predated 9/11 by years.
The defense says his conduct did not occur "in the context of" an armed conflict, or was not "associated with" an armed conflict.
Hamdan is facing life in prison. Even if acquitted, Bush may decide to hold him indefinitely as an "enemy combatant." As to his jury:
[A]t least five military officers will make up the jury, and a two-thirds vote is required for a guilty verdict. A three-fourths votes is required for sentences that are longer than 10 years.
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Posted on Fri Jun 13, 2008 at 07:15:00 AM EST
Tags: detainees, military commission trials (all tags)
Attorney General Michael Mukasey, speaking in Tokyo today, said the Supreme Court's decision yesterday upholding the rights of detainees to challenge the determination they are enemy combatants will not affect the upcoming Military Commissions Act trials.
[Mukasey] said he was disappointed with the decision because it would lead to "hundreds" of detention cases being referred to federal district court.
"I think it bears emphasis that the court's decision does not concern military commission trials, which will continue to proceed," he said. "Instead it addresses the procedures that the Congress and the president put in place to permit enemy combatants to challenge their detention."
There are several levels of detainees at Gitmo. Most have been held for years without charges. A small group have been charged with crimes, including offenses punishable by death. Their trials are by military commission, the rules of which are, in my view, unconstitutional.[More...]
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