Guantanamo detainee cleared of all but one of 285 counts related to 1998 bombings

[News_Editor]

Guantanamo detainee cleared of all but one of 285 counts related to 1998 bombings

2010-11-18 07:10:01 GMT+7 (ICT)

NEW YORK (BNO NEWS) -- A former Guantanamo detainee on Wednesday was acquitted of all but one of the 285 counts against him in relation to the 1998 bombings of the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, 36, was the first ex-detainee from Guantanamo to be tried in a civilian court. He was arrested for his involvement on the terrorist attacks of the U.S. Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, his native country.

Ghailani was convicted on one count of conspiracy to destroy government buildings and property. He was acquitted of the other 284 counts including charges of murder and murder conspiracy. He still faces up to 20 years in prison for the conspiracy count when sentenced in January.

The defendant was accused of helping al-Qaeda operatives to prepare the attack in Tanzania. He helped to purchase a Nissan Atlas truck which was used to carry the bomb and gas tanks that were used to cause the blast at the embassy.

Ghailani also stored an explosive detonator in an armoire he used. His cellphone became the operational phone for the operatives in the weeks leading up to the attacks. He was arrested in Pakistan in 2004 and was held for nearly five years at a secret camp run by the Central Intelligence Agency and at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The prosecution faced many legal hurdles to get this case to trial. Last month, a judge of the Federal District Court, prohibited them from using a key witness as the government learned about the witness during the defendant’s interrogation at the CIA secret location, after the defense alleged that the information was obtained through torture.

The witness was reportedly going to testify that he sold Ghailani large amounts of TNT that were used to blow up the U.S. facility in Tanzania. In addition, defense lawyers claimed that statements that the government intended to present as part of Ghailani’s confession were coerced and inadmissible.

The case was seen as a test of President Barack Obama's objective of trying detainees in federal court when possible. However, the result of Ghailani's trial may provoke a debate on whether civilian courts are appropriate to try terrorists. The U.S. expects to try Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the professed 9/11 mastermind, in a civilian court.

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