JURIST - Paper Chase: Hamdan plans boycott of Guantanamo military commission trial

[JURIST] Yemeni Guantanamo Bay detainee Salim Ahmed Hamdan [DOD materials; JURIST news archive] said Monday that he will join fellow detainees in a boycott of his upcoming military commission trial. Hamdan, a former driver for Osama bin Laden who has been in US custody since 2001, said at a pre-trial hearing that he will not participate in the trial and will refuse any aid from lawyers.

Hamdan is now the fourth Guantanamo detainee to announce plans to boycott their military commissions. In mid-April, Sudanese Guantanamo Bay detainee Ibrahim al-Qosi [DOD materials] said at a pre-trial hearing that he also planned to boycott his upcoming trial. Prior to that, Saudi Arabian detainee Ahmed Mohammed Ahmed Haza al-Darbi [DOD materials; JURIST report] and Afghan detainee Mohammed Jawad [DOD materials; JURIST report] stated that they would boycott their trials as well. AP has more.

Hamdan has been in US custody since 2001 when he was captured in Afghanistan and accused of working as Osama Bin Laden's driver. In 2006 he successfully challenged US President George W. Bush's military commission system when the Supreme Court ruled [opinion, PDF; JURIST report] that the commission system as initially constituted violated US and international law.

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