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Salim Hamdan

Salim Hamdan (born 1970) was the chauffeur for Osama bin Laden and an al-Qaeda member. In 2006, he sued Donald Rumsfeld and the United States government for the faulty process of military tribunals, and Hamdan's conviction at Guantanamo Bay and then in Yemen was overturned in 2012.

Biography[]

Salim Hamdan was born in 1970 in Wadi Hadhramaut, Yemen to a Muslim family. Yemeni al-Qaeda member Nasser al-Bahri recruited him into al-Qaeda while Hamdan was working in Afghanistan, and his lack of money led to him being employed as Osama bin Laden's chauffeur. On 24 November 2001, Hamdan and four other men were assaulted in their car by Afghan forces during the initial stages of the Afghanistan War, and three men were killed; Hamdan and the other man were captured. Hamdan was sent to Guantanamo Bay detention camp by the United States, and in 2006 he opened a lawsuit against the government in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, and the US Supreme Court agreed with Hamdan's case and limited the power of military tribunals. Hamdan was imprisoned in Guantanamo until 2007, when he was extradited to Yemen; in 2009, he was released to Sana'a to live with his family, and in 2012 his conviction was overturned.

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