Bin Laden's ex-driver to finish sentence in Yemen

SAN JUAN — A former driver for Osama bin Laden was transferred from Guantanamo Bay to his homeland of Yemen to serve out the remaining 32 days of his sentence, the Pentagon said Tuesday.

Salim Hamdan, the first man to go before a U.S. war crimes trial since the end of World War II, was flown from the U.S. Navy base in Cuba to Yemen.

Hamdan was convicted on Aug. 6 of providing material support to terrorism, and the military said it could keep him locked up indefinitely if it considered him to be a continued threat. Instead, he was sent home early.

A Pentagon official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter, said the decision was made by the White House.

Hamdan was sentenced at the war-crimes trial to 5 1/2 years in prison. Being credited with five years and one month for time already served means his sentence ends on Dec. 27, according to the Pentagon.

"As part of a transfer agreement with the United States, the remainder of Hamdan's sentence will be served in Yemen," the Defense Department said in a statement.

Hamdan's Pentagon-appointed attorney, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Brian Mizer, told The Associated Press that he was surprised to learn the U.S. was transferring Hamdan to Yemen so soon.

"This ... is welcome news indeed," Mizer said. "Tonight I hope that he is home with his wife and two little girls. He is not and never has been a terrorist."

Pentagon officials said earlier Tuesday that for security reasons, they would not announce Hamdan had been let out of Guantanamo until the transfer was completed. There was no immediate announcement in Yemen about Hamdan.

Many al-Qaida operatives came from Yemen, the USS Cole was attacked there in 2000 and the family of bin Laden, the al-Qaida chieftain, had ties to the country.

Guantanamo prosecutors sought a sentence of 30 years to life for Hamdan, whose trial inaugurated the military commissions in July. They also argued that he should not receive credit for his time detained at Guantanamo. A military judge rejected that argument.

The judge, Navy Capt. Keith Allred, called Hamdan a "small player." The jury of military officers seemed to agree, convicting him of supporting terrorism but acquitting him of being part of al-Qaida's conspiracy to attack the United States. He was also cleared of providing missiles to al-Qaida and knowing his work would be used for terrorism.

While a military official said the transfer was decided on by the White House, National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said he would not publicly discuss how or where the decision was made.

"I'm going to decline to comment on the deliberative process," Johndroe told the AP.

Some 250 men remain imprisoned at Guantanamo. President-elect Barack Obama has pledged to close the military detention center, which opened in January 2002.

On March 26, 2007, Australian detainee David Hicks pleaded guilty to supporting terrorism under an agreement that avoided a trial and sent him home to serve a nine-month prison sentence.

On Nov. 3, a Guantanamo prisoner who made propaganda videos for bin Laden and said he volunteered to be a Sept. 11 hijacker was convicted of terrorism charges and sentenced to life in prison.

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