Although one of his military-tribunal reviewers described his detention as "unconscionable,"
his lawyers have been unable to convince a federal court to review his case. So, they created a five-minute movie about his story using handheld cameras and a computer and posted it online. Within one month, "Guantanamo
Unclassified" was viewed more than 70,000 times, and twice as many people had visited www.projecthamad.org. The site is part of a fast-growing public campaign to eviscerate the Military Commissions Act, passed by Congress last year, which denied Hamad his day in court.
While Hamad may never see the inside of a U.S. court, the public attention to his case may have forced the government's hand. Just this week, the project told
Hamad's supporters that the Department of Defense has added him to a list of people slated to be released from Guantanamo. This doesn't mean that every Gitmo detainee will soon have his own Web campaign—not all of them have a story as compelling as Hamad's or advocates as new-media savvy. After all, lawyers are trained to litigate, not stream video. But even that is changing. Harvard Law
School recently revamped its curriculum, identifying creative "problem solving"
as a core skill for young lawyers. Last semester, I sat in on a class that was taught partially in the online world of Second Life where, hokey or not, students practiced the art of public advocacy.
