Noor Uthman Mohammed, a Sudanese national, was arrested in March 2002 when US and Pakistani forces raided an alleged Al-Qaeda safe house in Faisalabad, Pakistan. In May 2008, after he had spent more than five years in custody, the United States charged him with murder in violation of the laws of war, attacking civilians and civilian objects, destruction of property, terrorism and providing material support for terrorism. Specifically, the United States alleged that Mohamed trained at the Khaldan training camp in Afghanistan, and that between 1996-2000 he instructed terrorist recruits on how to use Kalashnikov assault rifles, machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades, artillery as well as anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons. Among other allegations, the United States claims he delivered a fax machine to Osama bin Laden at the Al-Qaeda training camp Jihad Wal.
On October 21, 2008, after the resignation of Lt. Col. Vandeveld, one of the prosecutors on his case, the United States withdrew the charges against Mohammed and four others. It filed new charges on December 5, 2008 and the charges were confirmed by the convening authority in January 2009. On February 15, 2011, Noor pled guilty to conspiracy and providing material support for terrorism. The charges normally can carry a term of up to life in prison but under the terms of a plea agreement Noor received a sentence of 34 months. In exchange he agreed to cooperate in prosecutions against other Guantanamo detainees. Under the terms of sentencing, if he fails to cooperate, he can receive an alternative sentence of up to 14 years.
In December 2013, Noor was repatriated to Sudan under the military commission plea agreement. In 2015 his conviction was vacated after a US federal appeals court found that material support for terrorism is not a war crime. (Last updated August 9, 2018)
