Bin Laden's former cook given 14-year sentence

(AFP/ GETTY IMAGES)

Osama Bin Laden's former cook and driver has become the first Guantanamo detainee to be sentenced since Barack Obama pledged to close the controversial prison camp.

Ibrahim al-Qosi, 51, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and providing material support for terrorism after US prosecutors charged him with serving as a driver, cook and armed guard for Bin Laden between 1996 and 2001, and with providing security, transportation and supply services for an al-Qa'ida compound in Afghanistan between 1998 and 2001.

On Wednesday a jury at a military commission in Guantanamo sentenced the Sudanese national to 14 years' imprisonment. He is the first detainee to be sentenced by a Guantanamo Bay military tribunal since President Obama took office and pledged to close the detention camps. But Qosi is expected to serve far fewer years under a plea deal that remains secret.

The case has focused concerns about the fairness of the military commissions. Andrea Prasow, a lawyer observing the hearings for Human Rights Watch, said: "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. I think this proceeding was a farce."