All the news coverage of the recent trial and sentencing of Salim Hamdan emphasizes that, even though he received a sentence just six months in excess of the time he’s already been in custody and he will get credit for that time served, he remains designated an “unlawful combatant” and therefore might be held indefinitely after completing his sentence.
So – how does he prove, or get a chance to prove, that he is not in fact an “unlawful combatant”? What legal recourse is there for a person so designated? The Combatant Status Review Tribunals hardly seem an adequate answer, the very names of the presiding officers being classified and much of the proceedings being kept secret from the designated parties.