By Jane Sutton
GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba (Reuters) - If Osamabin Laden's driver is convicted on terrorism charges asGuantanamo's first U.S. war crimes trial ends next week, hewill be jailed separately from the rest of the prisoners, thehead of the detention operation said on Saturday.
Still to be disclosed is how the military will do thatwithout subjecting defendant Salim Hamdan to potentiallydecades of extreme isolation.
The jury of six U.S. military officers is scheduled tobegin deliberating their verdict after the lawyers give closingarguments on Monday at the U.S. naval base in southeast Cuba.
If Hamdan is convicted on charges of conspiring with alQaeda and providing material support for terrorism, the jurycould sentence him to no further detention at all, life inprison, or anything in between.
Policy requires that as a war crimes convict, he would beheld separately from the other 265 Guantanamo detainees whomthe United States classifies as "unlawful enemy combatants,"said Rear Adm. Dave Thomas, commander of the detention camp.
"Guilty or convicted or whatever, they would be housed in adifferent facility," Thomas told journalists who toured theprison camps on Saturday. "They would be held separate from theother detainees."
Hamdan would be the only current Guantanamo prisonerconvicted of a crime. Camp officers say none are held insolitary confinement and that even those in themaximum-security, one-man cells can chat freely through thewalls or during outdoor recreation periods with other captivesin adjoining pens.
Asked how Hamdan could be separated but not isolated,Thomas replied: "It's a great question. I'm not faced with ityet. We've thought that through and we have plans toaccommodate, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it."
Hamdan acknowledges he was one of bin Laden's drivers inAfghanistan but denies joining al Qaeda or participating in itsattacks. Prosecutors say he pledged allegiance to bin Laden,helped him elude U.S. forces and had two missiles in his carwhen captured in Afghanistan in November 2001.
SEEKING LENIENCY
If he is convicted, a sentencing hearing would be heldimmediately with witnesses presenting testimony aboutmitigating or aggravating factors.
Defence lawyers will ask that he be given three days'credit for time served for every day he has been held atGuantanamo, said deputy chief defence counsel Michael Berrigan.
They will also argue that he deserves leniency since he hasprovided interrogators with valuable information and because ofwhat Berrigan described as a low level of culpability.
Hamdan is accused of being part of a broad al Qaedaconspiracy responsible for the 1998 attacks on U.S. embassiesin East Africa, the 2000 attack on the warship USS Cole inYemen and the September 11 attacks, but there was no trialevidence he had direct involvement or prior knowledge of any ofthose.
Prosecutors plan to call victims of some of the attacks ortheir relatives to testify at the sentencing hearing if Hamdanis convicted, said the chief prosecutor, Army Col. LawrenceMorris.
Hamdan's trial would be the first completed in thecontroversial tribunals created by the Bush administration toprosecute non-U.S. citizens on terrorism charges outside theregular civilian and military courts.
Since the United States began sending captives toGuantanamo in January 2002, only one prisoner has beenconvicted of a crime. Australian David Hicks averted trial bypleading guilty in March 2007 to a charge of providing materialsupport for terrorism.
He was held alone in a separate section of the camp forabout two months before being sent to Australia to finish hisnine-month sentence. Trial officials said they did not know ifthere had been any discussion with the Yemeni government aboutsending Hamdan home to serve any potential sentence.
(Editing by Mohammad Zargham)
