[24/November/2008]

SANA'A, Nov. 24 (Saba) - Well-informed sources said on Monday that U.S. authorities would extradite Salim Hamdan to Yemen in the coming few days, the State-run 26sep.net reported Monday.

He is one of Yemen's dozens detainees at the Guantanamo Bay, who were detained several years ago since 9/11.

Salim Ahmed Hamdan (born in 1970) is a Yemeni, captured in November 2001 during the invasion of Afghanistan, and imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay. He admits to being Osama bin Laden's personal driver and bodyguard.

He was charged with "conspiracy and providing material support for terrorism" but a judge declared the judicial system in place at the time unconstitutional and those charges were dropped on June 5, 2007. He was then held, without being charged, as an enemy combatant.

He was brought up on new charges on July 21, 2008, and found guilty of "providing material support" to al Qaeda, but was cleared of terrorism conspiracy charges. He was sentenced last August to five-and-a-half years of imprisonment by a military jury, being counted as having already served five years of the sentence at the time.

AF/AF

Saba