Bin Laden’s driver pleads guilty at Guantanamo
July 8th, 2010 - 7:13 am ICT by IANSWashington, July 8 (IANS) A Sudanese man who served as a bodyguard and driver for Al Qaida chief Osama bin Laden has pleaded guilty before a military commission at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to assisting bin Laden and others in plotting the 9/11 attacks.
In the first case prosecuted under the Obama administration at Guantanamo, 50-year-old Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al Qosi Wednesday pleaded guilty to supporting Al Qaida and conspiring to commit terrorism between August 1996 and December 2001, during which he served as a driver for bin Laden. He was arrested in December 2001.
Al Qosi said he fled to the mountains in eastern Afghanistan when the US forces closed in, Xinhua reported.
He could face life in prison. The plea provided a window into the movements of Al Qaida leading up to the 9/11 attacks.
He lived with bin Laden and other members of the group at a compound near Jalalabad in Afghanistan from 1996 to 1998 before he and the rest of the group relocated to Kandahar. He also fought in support of Al Qaida as part of a mortar crew.
About two weeks before 9/11, al Qosi and others followed bin Laden’s orders to evacuate the Kandahar compound. Armed with AK-47 assault rifles, al Qosi and others travelled in a convoy with bin Laden and camped between Kabul, Khost and Jalalabad.
From October through December of 2001, al Qosi and others travelled with bin Laden to the mountainous Tora Bora area along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
In the first two weeks of December 2001, al Qosi and others travelled away from bin Laden in Tora Bora, where they came under fire by US forces and were subsequently captured. He has been held ever since.
Al Qosi will be sentenced Aug 9. He will remain at Guantanamo Bay for the time being, and it is not yet known where he will serve out his sentence.
“That probably will be determined at the highest levels of government,” said Navy Capt. David C. Iglesias, official spokesman in the case and a commission prosecutor for two years.
Obama has promised to close the infamous Guantanamo prison facility, but has so far failed to deliver. Al Qosi is only the fourth person prosecuted under the military commission. He is the second to plead guilty. Two others were convicted in trials.
- Osama bin Laden's cook sent to 14 years in prison - Aug 12, 2010
- Osama's Sudanese cook to walk free in 2012 after sentence reduced to two years - Feb 10, 2011
- Osama's Sudanese cook sentenced to 14 years in prison - Aug 12, 2010
- US military judge seals sentence of bin Laden's former cook - Aug 10, 2010
- Osama's ex-cook pleads guilty for supporting terrorism - Jul 08, 2010
- Osama did not escape to Pakistan, but headed north: GITMO documents - Apr 26, 2011
- Al Qaeda leaders were in Karachi on 9/11: WikiLeaks - Apr 25, 2011
- No 9/11 accused has gone to the gallows - Sep 10, 2011
- 9/11 Pakistani mastermind, 4 others sent for trial - Apr 05, 2012
- Osama's bodyguard freed by Pakistan: Report - Sep 30, 2011
- 9/11 attack mastermind on trial in Guantanamo - May 06, 2012
- Ex-Guantanamo inmate says Assange will never receive a fair trial in US - Dec 15, 2010
- Rumsfeld: Death of Bin Laden a victory in the fight against Islamist terrorism - May 04, 2011
- Osama and Zawahiri to be kept at Guantanamo if captured: CIA - Feb 17, 2011
- Osama's will forbade his children from jihad, wives from remarrying - May 04, 2011
Tags: 9 11 attacks, afghanistan pakistan, ak 47, assault rifles, eastern afghanistan, guantanamo bay cuba, ibrahim ahmed, jalalabad, kandahar, khost, levels of government, life in prison, military commission, mortar crew, navy capt, pakistan border, prosec, s driver, tora bora, xinhua