Osama's Cook Sentenced to 14 Years

But he'll serve less time under secret plea agreement
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 11, 2010 5:48 PM CDT
Osama's Cook Sentenced to 14 Years
A courtroom sketch of Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al-Qosi.   (Janet Hamlin)

The guy who cooked for Osama bin Laden and drove him around occasionally should serve 14 years in prison, a US military tribunal decreed today. But in a confusing twist, Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al-Qosi will probably serve far less time because of a secret plea bargain he struck last month, reports Reuters. (It's so secret that the tribunal was not informed that the deal limited his jail time.) His actual sentence won't be revealed for several weeks while the Pentagon reviews it, notes AP.

Al-Qosi, the fourth Guantanamo detainee convicted since the prison opened in 2002, admitted that he followed bin Laden out of Sudan in 1996 and continued working for him in Afghanistan. The Sudanese man, 50, denied involvement in any terror planning, and defense attorneys portrayed him as a menial worker. He was one of the first detainees sent to Gitmo after being captured in Pakistan.
(More al-Qaeda stories.)

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