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Bin Laden Driver Given Lenient Sentence

HeadlineAug 08, 2008

In a strong rebuke of military prosecutors, Osama bin Laden’s former driver, Salim Hamdan, has been given a lenient sentence at his war crimes trial. On Thursday, Hamdan was sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison, including the five he has already spent at Guantanamo Bay. The ruling would make him eligible for release in just five months. Military prosecutors had sought a thirty-year sentence. The move came one day after Hamdan was convicted on two charges of material support for terrorism but acquitted of the most serious charges. Hamdan is the first Guantanamo prisoner to be tried in a case that also marks the first war crimes tribunal since World War II. It’s unclear whether the Pentagon will actually release Hamdan when his term expires. The Bush administration says it retains the right to hold anyone indefinitely if they’re deemed to pose a threat. At the sentencing hearing, military judge Captain Keith Allred said he hopes Hamdan will be allowed to return to his family in Yemen. Hamdan replied “Inshallah,” Arabic for “God willing.” Captain Allred replied back, “Inshallah.”

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