An American military jury sentenced Osama bin Laden's former driver Salim Hamdan to five years and six months in prison tonight for supporting terrorism, far less than the minimum 30 years prosecutors had requested.

Taking into account some of the time Hamdan has already spent in detention, his sentence will run out in five months, although the Pentagon has indicated that it has no immediate plans to release him.

Hamdan was convicted on Wednesday of five counts of providing material support for terrorism, specifically that his personal services to al-Qaeda included driving and acting as a bodyguard to a man he knew was the leader of a terrorist organisation.

The proceedings were the first full test of the military tribunal system to try foreign captives on charges of terrorism outside the regular US court system.
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"It is my duty as president to inform you that this military commission sentences you to be confined for 66 months," one of the six-member jury told the court.

The judge, Navy Captain Keith Allred, noted that Hamdan had been given five years and one month credit for the time he spent behind bars since he was initially charged with terrorism by US authorities.

Hamdan will complete his sentence at the Guantanamo Bay detention centre. "After that I don't know what happens. Apparently you become eligible for administrative review," he added.

Pentagon officials had always insisted that they retain the right to keep Hamdan incarcerated irrespective of his sentence. But lawyers and human rights advocates say the US will come under intense international pressure to release Hamdan if it refuses to free him even after he has served his sentence. They have pledged to fight such moves in US federal courts.

After the sentencing, Hamdan thanked the jury and expressed remorse for any harm he had caused by his actions. "I would like to apologise one more time to all the members and I would like to thank you for what you have done," he said through an interpreter.

Hamdan, a Yemeni believed to be 40, was arrested at a roadblock in Afghanistan in November 2001. He had two surface-to-air missiles in the car. The prosecution said that between 1998 and 2001 he had delivered weapons for al-Qaeda and was part of the inner circle of bin Laden.

The defence argued that Hamdan was a minor figure who had played no role in terror plots and they questioned whether his job as a driver qualified as a war crime.


Comment: The Times neglects to mention that Hamdan was the subject to torture and 'coercion', that evidence allowed against him included hearsay or that for many years of his incarceration Hamdan had no access to any form of Council whatsoever.

The whole process is a sham, proving nothing other that the desperation of Bush Co. to produce some kind of 'result' to feed home media markets as part of the run up to U.S. elections.