Bin Laden driver found guilty in Guantanamo trial (1st Lead)

Aug 6, 2008, 14:46 GMT

Washington - The former driver for Osama bin Laden, Salim Hamdan, on Wednesday was found guilty of providing material support for terrorism, but was acquitted on the more serious charge of conspiracy.

The six-officer military jury arrived at the verdict after a trial that lasted just more than two weeks and after jury deliberations that began on Monday.

Major Gail Crawford, a spokeswoman for the military tribunals at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, confirmed the verdict.

The charges brought against Hamdan could land him a life imprisonment term. Sentencing had not yet taken place.

Hamdan's case is the first to go to trial in the military commissions ordered by President George W Bush, and also the beginning of the first US military tribunals since World War II.

Hamdan, 37, was captured in 2001 in Afghanistan and has been held at Guantanamo since May 2002. He is among the 20 of Guantanamo's 265 detainees facing war crimes charges.

The US government alleges that Hamdan, a Yemeni, was a member of al-Qaeda terrorist network leader Osama bin Laden's inner circle and was aware of terrorist plots. The defence argued that Hamdan merely served as a driver and was not involved in terrorism.

In written answers to questions posed by Hamdan's defence attorneys, the alleged mastermind of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, said that Hamdan was a low-level driver and mechanic who was not educated and in no position to support terrorism or have knowledge of potential plots.

Mohammed, who is also held at Guantanamo, refused to testify in court. He and four co-defendants are set to be tried later this year in connection with the September 11 attacks and face the death penalty if convicted.