Bin Laden driver's conviction thrown out by court

Courtesy of Prof. Neal Katyal via AP

Salim Ahmed Hamdan is seen in an undated photo

By NBC News staff

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Court of Appeals on Tuesday tossed out the conviction of Osama bin Laden?s former driver for supporting terrorism, saying the law under which he was tried did not apply to his crime.

Salim Ahmed Hamdan was convicted in 2008 by a panel of six U.S. military officers of providing material support to al-Qaida. He was sentenced to five-and-a-half years and released shortly thereafter because he had already spent six years in custody at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base detention camp in Cuba.

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He was the first Guatanamo detainee to be convicted of war crimes.

The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia vacated Hamdan?s conviction even though he has already served his sentence.

Read the U.S. Court of Appeals ruling (PDF)

The court noted that Hamdan?s crime occurred from 1996 to 2001 and said the 2006 Military Commissions? Act ?-- which specifically lists material support for terrorism as a war crime triable by military commission? -- cannot be applied retroactively to cover it.

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The court also said that while military commissions may try violations of the international ?law of war,? when Hamdan committed the conduct in question the law did not proscribe material support for terrorism as a war crime. ??

?Because we read the Military Commissions Act not to retroactively punish new crimes, and because material support for terrorism was not a pre-existing war crime under 10 U.S.C. ? 821, Hamdan?s conviction for material support for terrorism cannot stand,? the appeals court ruled.

Pentagon video shows the interrogation of Osama bin Laden's driver, Salim Hamdan, in Afghanistan shortly after 9/11.

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Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/16/14482344-conviction-of-osama-bin-laden-driver-salim-ahmed-hamdan-thrown-out-by-appeals-court?lite

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