Salim Hamdan, a Yemeni, who worked as a driver for Osama bin Laden was convicted by a United States Military Court on five counts of supporting terrorism but was cleared of conspiracy. I am curious about the law and laws that he knowingly transgressed, and how the United States has jurisdiction since he was captured in Afghanistan. So he was the driver and bodyguard for Osama bin Laden and worked for a money wage.

No doubt there will be further developments and elucidation in this case. Obviously there are questions. For example: Was the jury impartial? The charges do not seem serious enough to keep a person confined for six years and subject to calculated extreme conditions tantamount to torture.

The BBC reports further details:

It was the first verdict in a full war crimes trial at the US prison in Cuba. The jury of six military officers had deliberated for about eight hours over three days before reaching their verdict.
The defence team plans to appeal, and rights groups condemned the trial as unjust. But the White House said the trial was a “fair and appropriate legal process”.

. . . Convicting him on five counts of aiding terrorism, the jury accepted he was a member of al-Qaeda who had served as Bin Laden’s armed bodyguard and driver while knowing that the al-Qaeda leader was plotting attacks against the US.

But he was found not guilty on three other counts of aiding terrorism, alleging that he knew that his work would be used for terrorism and that he provided surface-to-air missiles to al-Qaeda.

He was also cleared of two charges of conspiracy, alleging that he was part of the al-Qaeda effort to attack the US - the most serious charges he faced.

The comments by the spin doctors at the White House are worthy of a totalitarian government. Meanwhile, writ of justice does not run to the occupants of the White House, and others, perhaps presumably more culpable than Hamdan, yet incarcerated in the Guantanamo resort have not been charged.

I expect expert legal opinion will be expressed in relation to this trial process and outcome, especially on appeal. Hamdan does not appear to qualify as a terrorist even as a foot soldier. I hope that if he gets out he will obey the rules of the road in future - whatever they might be in Afghanistan.