A MAN WHO served as Osama bin Laden’s cook and driver has been given a 14-year prison sentence by a military judge at a tribunal in Guantanamo Bay.
Ibrahim al-Qosi, born in Sudan, had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to conspiracy and providing support for terrorism – but has entered a plea bargain with authorities which could result in him serving a far shorter jail term.
A jury of ten military officers took just under an hour to hand down the sentence, who had entered his guilty plea in July.
al-Qosi was captured in Afghanistan in 2001 and had also admitted to acting as a bodyguard for the al-Qaeda leader, helping him to evade American forces after they invaded the country in October of that year.
He also admitted running a kitchen in bin Laden’s compound while being fully aware that he was leading a terrorist organisation.
Military prosecutors said the chef had ‘insulted the intelligence of the tribunal’ by downplaying his role to that of a cook.
al-Qosi becomes the first person convicted at the United States’ trials in Guantanamo Bay since Barack Obama became president, and only the fourth person to be convicted there at all, despite it having held more than 800 alleged militants.
Obama has tried to close the prison but has been unable to strike a deal with Congress on where to house the 180 remaining detainees at the camp.
It has been reported that al-Qosi may be likely to be detained at the camp to serve out his sentence, which could result in his eight-and-a-half year detainment being deducted from his given sentence.
His sentence is to be reviewed by the Pentagon, after which the full amount al-Qosi will serve will be revealed.
Opponents of the Guantanamo camp have criticised the secrecy around the plea bargain, saying it goes against the transparency promised by President Obama during his election campaign.
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