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Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a father of two from Yemen, is standing trial in Guantanamo, Cuba, for participating in a terrorism conspiracy and faces life in prison if convicted. Prosecutors are portraying Hamdan as Osama bin Laden’s former driver, a member of Al Qaeda who supported terrorist attacks, and an accomplice to the September 11th 2001 attacks. But Hamdan’s lawyers say he was a salaried employee who never joined Al Qaeda or even shared bin Laden’s views. The case against Hamdan is the first US military commission trial since World War II and is being seen as the first test of military justice. On Monday, a military judge threw out some of the prosecution’s evidence saying that they were obtained under “highly coercive” conditions while he was held captive in Afghanistan. In fact Hamdan’s lawyers say he was beaten, abused, and tortured while in Guantanamo. About 20 more cases are scheduled to be heard by military rather than civilian juries. In 2006 the Supreme Court struck down the military commission system after Hamdan’s lawyers filed suit. But Congress overrode the ruling by passing the Military Commissions Act of 2006, under which Hamdan is being tried today.

GUEST: Hina Shamsi, an attorney with the ACLU’s National Security Project. For more information, visit www.aclu.org.