Former bin Laden driver sent to Yemen

Washington —- Former Osama bin Laden driver Salim Hamdan was transferred Tuesday from the U.S. terrorism detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, back to his home country of Yemen, the Pentagon announced.

Hamdan was convicted in August of aiding al-Qaida and sentenced to five years in prison. He would be eligible for release in January with credit for time served.

A senior defense official said Hamdan will serve out the remainder of his sentence in Yemen.

Waleed Alshahari, who oversees Guantanamo issues for Yemen’s embassy in Washington, said Tuesday he was surprised by Hamdan’s transfer because there had been no new negotiations on releasing the 90 or so Yemeni detainees at the prison.

He said any deal over their release probably will come under President-elect Barack Obama’s administration.

“It seems the new administration wants to close this prison, so there will be negotiations with them,” he said.

Security has been a roadblock. The United States is concerned the detainees will be released as soon as they are returned to Yemen. Yemeni and U.S. officials agree a new, secure rehabilitation center should be built in Yemen, but officials there say they can’t afford it and have asked the U.S. to build it.

Alshahari said he believes the Obama administration will seek a deal with a neighboring country to help pay for the project.

Although he was convicted of supporting terrorism, Hamdan was acquitted by a jury of military officers of providing missiles to al-Qaida, knowing his work would be used for terrorism and being part of al-Qaida’s conspiracy to attack the United States.

He could have faced up to life in prison and his relatively light sentence was considered a rebuke to military prosecutors who portrayed him as a hardened al-Qaida warrior.