Salim Hamdan - Sentencing

Sentencing

On August 7, 2008, Hamdan was sentenced by the military jury to five and a half years (66 months) imprisonment. Prosecutors had urged a sentence of 30 years-to-life, while Hamdan's defense had recommended less than 45 months. At the time he was already credited for having served 61 months, so the sentence imposed five months additional imprisonment. A Pentagon spokesman noted that Hamdan's status could revert to "enemy combatant" after his sentence was served, and as such he could be indefinitely detained.

Allred, the Presiding Officer of his Commission, called Hamdan a "small player," and said this sentence meant Hamdan would be eligible to having his continued detention reviewed by an Administrative Review Board (a form of appeals court) when his sentence was completed. He told Hamdan:

"I hope the day comes that you return to your wife and daughters and your country, and you're able to be a provider, a father and a husband in the best sense of all those terms."