Bin Laden driver given short sentence

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba – A U.S. military jury sentenced Osama bin Laden’s driver Thursday to just 5 1/2 years in prison, a surprise rebuke to Pentagon prosecutors who portrayed him as a member of the al-Qaida leader’s inner circle worthy of a life sentence.

Salim Hamdan, with credit for time served, will be eligible for release in less than five months, though U.S. authorities still insist they could hold him indefinitely without charge at Guantanamo.

The sentence now goes for mandatory review to a Pentagon official who can shorten it but not extend it. It remains unclear what will happen to Hamdan once his sentence is served because the U.S. military has said it won’t release anyone who still represents a threat.

The judge, Navy Capt. Keith Allred, said Hamdan, who is from Yemen, would likely be eligible for release through the same administrative review process as other Guantanamo prisoners.

Defense lawyers said Hamdan will have finished his sentence in four months and 22 days. “It was all for show if Mr. Hamdan does not go home in December,” said civilian defense attorney Charles Swift, who hugged Hamdan after the jurors left the courtroom.

Hamdan thanked the jurors for the sentence and repeated his apology for having served bin Laden.

“I would like to apologize one more time to all the members and I would like to thank you for what you have done for me,” Hamdan told the five-man, one-woman jury, all military officers picked by the Pentagon for the first U.S. war crimes trial in a half-century.

Hamdan waved both hands as he left the courtroom, saying “bye, bye” in English.

The decision was a “slap in the face” to the Bush administration and its detention policies, said David Remes, a Washington lawyer who represents 15 Yemeni prisoners at Guantanamo.

“They chose to make this a test case. But they never imagined that it would result in such a stunning rebuff,” he said.

A Pentagon spokesman, Navy Cmdr. Jeffrey Gordon, said he could not speculate whether Hamdan would be released later this year or remain imprisoned as an “enemy combatant.”

While being convicted of supporting terrorism, Hamdan was acquitted of providing missiles to al-Qaida and knowing his work would be used for terrorism. He also was cleared of being part of al-Qaida’s conspiracy to attack the United States – the most serious charges he faced.