Spain's supreme court on Wednesday sentenced the so-called "Spanish Taliban" Hamed Abderrahman to six years in prison for belonging to a terrorist organization, the court said.

"We sentence Abderrahman, responsible for a crime of belonging to al-Qaeda, a terrorist organisation ... to a penalty of six years in prison," the court said in its ruling.

According to the court, Abderrahman was a member of the Islamic extremist organization al-Qaeda and had traveled to Afghanistan to become a combatant of the Islamic Jihad (Holy War).

Spanish police also said Abderrahman was recruited in Spain by al-Qaeda members who perpetrated the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

Abderrahman, imprisoned for two years in the US military prison in Guantanamo, has denied belonging to al-Qaeda and described himself as a "martyr," insisting that he traveled to Afghanistan to deepen his knowledge of the Islamic holy book Koran.

In February 2004, Abderrahman became the first prisoner at the US naval base at Guantanamo to be handed over to a foreign country for prosecution when the United States agreed to a Spanish extradition request.

He was arrested in Pakistan in October 2001 and handed over to the US forces two months later. He had been held at Kandahar, Afghanistan, prior to his transfer to the prison at Guantanamo.

Source: Xinhua