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Bin Laden's driver goes free from Guantanamo
Ed Harris25.11.08
OSAMA bin Laden's former driver is being transferred from detention at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba to his home country of Yemen, US defence officials said today.
Salim Hamdan was convicted of aiding al Qaeda in August and sentenced to five and a half years in prison. He would be eligible for release in January with credit for time served.
Hamdan, 40, was sentenced by a jury of six US military officers at Guantanamo's first war crimes trial earlier this year. At the time he had already served five years and a month in Guantanamo.
He admitted working for bin Laden in Afghanistan from 1997 to 2001 for $200 (£134) a month, but said he worked for pay, not to wage war on the US.
Prosecutors had sought a sentence of 30 years to life, arguing that as an "enemy combatant" he should not receive credit for his time in detention. A military judge rejected that argument.
While convicted of supporting terrorism, Hamdan was acquitted of providing missiles to al Qaeda and knowing his work would be used for terrorism. He was cleared of being part of al Qaeda's conspiracy to attack the US. His light sentence was considered a rebuke to prosecutors who portrayed him as a hardened terrorist.
