Al-Qaida: Bin Laden's Driver is Given Light Sentence

A Guantánamo Bay prisoner who served as Osama bin Laden's driver could be eligible for release in as little as five months after a jury handed down an unexpectedly light sentence at a much-derided US military tribunal.

A panel of six military officers at the US naval base in Cuba ruled that Yemen-born Salim Hamdan should serve five and a half years, shunning prosecutors' demands for a stretch of at least 30 years.

Hamdan will get credit for the 61 months he has already spent in Guantánamo so his sentence will be completed early next year - although US authorities say they will not set free anybody who represents a threat. "I hope the day comes when you return to your wife and your daughters and your country," said the judge, navy captain Keith Allred.

The format of the hearing, which is likely to be the first of many military trials for Guantánamo inmates, has been criticized around the world.