Jury out in bin Laden driver case

Osama bin Laden's driver performed vital services that enabled "the world's most dangerous terrorist" to launch attacks, a prosecutor told jurors before they began deliberations.

Salim Hamdan was captured in November 2001 in Afghanistan, where he had worked in bin Laden's motor pool since 1996.

He could face life in prison if convicted of conspiring with al-Qaeda and supporting terrorism in the first US war crimes tribunal since World War Two.

Defence lawyers for Hamdan said he was merely a hired labourer akin to the defence contractors who provide services to US forces.

"Changing lug nuts and oil filters" were hardly war crimes, they said.

Hamdan was not even trusted to know where he was driving bin Laden until after a convoy departed, a defence lawyer told the jury of six US military officers.

Even if he is acquitted, or sentenced to less than the six years he has already spent in captivity, the US said it can still hold him as an "unlawful enemy combatant" until the end of the war on terrorism.

Hamdan says he drove for bin Laden because he needed the monthly wage but denies joining al-Qaeda, pledging loyalty to bin Laden or participating in attacks.

Prosecutors portrayed Hamdan as a key conspirator who enthusiastically drove and protected the al Qaeda leader, knowing that bin Laden's goals included murdering Americans and taking down Western nations.

At least four of the six military jurors must agree by secret written ballot in order to return a guilty verdict for Hamdan.

© Independent Television News Limited 2008. All rights reserved.