A GUANTÁNAMO jury has recommended a 14-year sentence for an al-Qaeda cook, though he could be released much sooner under a plea bargain that will limit the time he spends in prison.
Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al-Qosi from Sudan pleaded guilty last month to supporting terrorism, making him only the fourth Guantánamo detainee to be convicted since the prison, which has held nearly 800 men, was opened in 2002.
The jury of 10 US military officers was not told about the sentence limit in the plea agreement. If it is less than 14 years, the jury’s sentence will only be applied if al-Qosi breaks the agreement, said Navy Captain David Iglesias, a spokesman for military prosecutors.
Military officials say al-Qosi’s actual sentence would not be disclosed publicly until it was reviewed by a Pentagon official, which could take several weeks.
Critics said the handling of the case dashed hopes that the offshore tribunal system would be more transparent under President Barack Obama.
“To find out that the first conviction under the Obama administration is accompanied by a secret plea agreement, coupled with a dummy sentence, it’s really troubling,” said Andrea Prasow, a lawyer observing the hearings for Human Rights Watch. “I think this proceeding was a farce.”
Judge Nancy Paul, an Air Force lieutenant colonel, said officials would have 60 days after sentencing to determine where al-Qosi would be held.
She told jurors they could sentence al-Qosi to between 12 and 15 years in prison – a range that is reportedly well above the terms of the plea bargain.
She said the detainee would not receive credit for the eight years and seven months he already had spent in confinement.
Captain Iglesias said the recommended sentencing range was determined in discussions between lawyers for al-Qosi and the Pentagon official, retired Vice Admiral Bruce MacDonald.
As part of the plea agreement, the 50-year-old detainee signed a statement declaring that he followed Osama bin Laden after the al-Qaeda leader’s expulsion from Sudan in 1996 and continued working for him in Afghanistan.
Al-Qosi said he learned after the bombings that al-Qaeda was behind the US embassy bombings in East Africa in 1998 and the September 11th, 2001, attack on the United States, but that he was not involved in their planning.
He was arrested in Pakistan and was among the first prisoners taken to Guantánamo.
At Wednesday’s sentencing hearing, al-Qaeda expert Robert McFadden said only the most loyal followers of bin Laden would be allowed close enough to become a cook or driver.
The Arabic-language news channel al-Arabiya reported recently that the secret agreement calls for al-Qosi to serve an additional two years at most and return to Sudan afterwards.– (AP)