26 Facts About Salim Hamdan

Salim Ahmed Salim Hamdan is a Yemeni man, captured during the invasion of Afghanistan, declared by the United States government to be an illegal enemy combatant and held as a detainee at Guantanamo Bay from 2002 to November 2008.

Salim Hamdan admits to being Osama bin Laden's personal driver and said he needed the money.

Salim Hamdan was originally charged by a military tribunal with "conspiracy and providing material support for terrorism," but the process of military tribunals was challenged in a case that went to the US Supreme Court.

Salim Hamdan was found guilty of "providing material support" to al Qaeda, but was acquitted by the jury of terrorism conspiracy charges.

Salim Hamdan was sentenced to five-and-a-half years of imprisonment by the military jury, which credited him for his detention as having already served five years of the sentence.

Salim Hamdan was born in 1968 in Wadi Hadhramaut, Yemen.

Salim Hamdan went to Afghanistan to work, where he was recruited to al-Qaeda by Nasser al-Bahri, a Yemeni.

Salim Hamdan had first worked on an agricultural project started by Osama bin Laden.

Salim Hamdan started working as his driver because he needed the money.

Salim Hamdan was captured in southern Afghanistan on November 24,2001.

On November 8,2004, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia halted Salim Hamdan's military commission because no "competent tribunal" had determined whether Mr Salim Hamdan was a POW, and because regardless of such determination, the commission violated the procedures of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

On December 21,2007, Judge Allred heard arguments, and ruled that Salim Hamdan was an "illegal enemy combatant", who could thus be tried by a military commission.

Lieutenant Brian Mizer, one of Salim Hamdan's lawyers, said his team had introduced evidence:.

Salim Hamdan's lawyers filed a request with Allred requesting the detainee be moved out of solitary confinement.

Salim Hamdan's attorneys said he had been allowed only two exercise periods in the previous month.

Salim Hamdan had been housed in camp 4, the camp for the most compliant captives until December 2006.

Emily Keram, a psychiatrist, examined Salim Hamdan and, according to the Seattle Post Intelligencer:.

Salim Hamdan's Defense expressed a concern that the Prosecution had been withholding some of the detainee's records from them.

Salim Hamdan assured Allred they were still looking for them.

In February 2008, Salim Hamdan's lawyers requested access to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the thirteen other high value detainees in order to gather more information for their defense, which Morris opposed.

Salim Hamdan's prosecution did not provide documents from the detainee's interrogations until July 28,2008.

The key testimony expected from McFadden was his having heard Salim Hamdan confirm that he had sworn "Bay'ah", a kind of oath of fealty, to Osama bin Laden.

Prosecutors had urged a sentence of 30 years-to-life, while Salim Hamdan's defense had recommended less than 45 months.

Salim Hamdan reported that Charles "Cully" Stimson, then the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs, had agreed to make a case for a negotiated sentence of ten years.

Salim Hamdan asked that Hamdan not be granted credit for time served, and serve an additional six years.

Salim Hamdan's family were not allowed to meet him at Sanaa International Airport.