U.S. seeks Gitmo resentencing for driver

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, Oct. 19 (UPI) -- Bush administration officials say they are seeking a longer sentence for a Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detainee accused of being Osama bin Laden's driver.

Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a 40-year-old Yemeni captured in Afghanistan in November 2001, is to be released Dec. 31 after being sentenced in August by a military jury to 66 months, with credit for 61 months already served, The Washington Post reported Sunday.

Hamdan was convicted of providing aid to terrorists, but administration officials say the judge at the tribunal, Navy Capt. Keith Allred, erred by giving him credit for time served. They also say the crimes for which Hamdan was tried are independent of his status as an enemy combatant, which allows the United States to hold him at Guantanamo Bay indefinitely as an enemy soldier.

Hamdan's attorneys told the newspaper said the government's motion was a ruse "to avoid releasing Mr. Hamdan in December."

"If the government doesn't honor the verdict of the jury, it clearly demonstrates these really are show trials," Navy Lt. Cmdr. Brian Mizer, Hamdan's military defense attorney, told the Post.