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US to transfer Hamdan to Yemen before end of sentence: reports

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] Former Osama Bin Laden driver Salim Ahmed Hamdan will soon be transferred from US to Yemeni custody, according to US military sources quoted in media reports Monday. His transfer comes approximately one month before the end of a six month jail term he received for providing material support for terrorism. Commentators suggest that the transfer may signal possible future cooperation between Yemeni and US officials, as the US had previously refused to transfer detainees to Yemen's custody. Hamdan's transfer also eliminates concerns that were raised when government lawyers said they could hold him indefinitely after the end of his sentence. Hamdan is expected to remain in Yemeni custody until his original release date of December 27. In October, a US military judge denied a request by prosecutors that he reconsider a decision that reduced Hamdan's sentence from five-and-a-half years to six months because of credit for time already served. Hamdan was initially taken into custody in 2001, and in 2006 he successfully challenged President George W. Bush's military commission system when the Supreme Court ruled that the commission system as initially construed violated US and international law. Congress subsequently passed the Military Commissions Act of 2006, which established the current military commissions system.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on November 25, 2008 (boomark / email).