Background
The plaintiff in this case is Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a citizen of Yemen and a bodyguard and chauffeur for Osama bin Laden, who had been formerly employed to work on an agricultural project that Osama Bin Laden had created to support the people of Afghanistan. Hamdan was captured by militia forces during the invasion of Afghanistan and turned over to the United States, then sent to the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. In July 2004, he was charged with conspiracy to commit terrorism, and the Bush administration made arrangements to try him before a military commission authorized under Military Commission Order No. 1 of March 21, 2002. Hamdan filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, arguing that the military commission convened to try him was illegal and lacked the protections required under the Geneva Conventions and United States Uniform Code of Military Justice. Following the Supreme Court ruling on another case, Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, Hamdan was granted a review before the Combatant Status Review Tribunal, which determined that he was eligible for detention by the United States as an enemy combatant or person of interest.
The defendants in this case include many United States government officials allegedly responsible for Hamdan's detention; as is customary, the short name of the case includes only the first-named defendant, then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
Read more about this topic: Hamdan V. Rumsfeld
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