US prosecutors on Thursday called on a military jury to jail Osama bin Laden's former driver Salim Hamdan for at least 30 years, if not life.

"You should consider life sentencing possibilities when you consider the facts in this case," prosecutor John Murphy told the court, adding that Hamdan should be imprisoned for "not less than 30 years."

A tough sentence will bring "a consequence so great that others will think again before they ally themselves with Osama bin Laden or the next Osama bin Laden," Murphy said.

"Do justice for all the victims of material support for terrorism in this case."

Hamdan's sentencing hearing came after he was convicted on Wednesday of providing support to al-Qaida, in the first military trial of a detainee at the US Navy detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Hamdan's lawyers had said they would ask for leniency in the case, after the Yemeni was cleared on more serious charges that he conspired and plotted attacks for Al-Qaeda.


Sketch shows Salim Hamdan at his trial
©AFP/Pool/File - Janet HamlinBut the US Defense Department has made clear on that whatever his sentence, he will be kept in prison for an indefinite period.

"In the near term at least, we would consider him an enemy combatant and still a danger, and would like (that he) still be detained for some period of time," Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary, said this week.

The sentencing hearing comes after the first full trial before the controversial tribunals set up by President George W. Bush's administration to try suspects in the "war on terror."