By Kevin J Kelley
A Tanzanian scheduled to go on trial next year for allegedly helping carry out the Nairobi and Dar es Salaam US embassy bombings is raising legal challenges that could frustrate President Obama’s intention to “finally see that justice is served” 11 years after the attacks.
Attorneys for Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani filed a motion in federal court in New York last week alleging that their client was tortured while in US custody.
Ghailani, born in Zanzibar in the mid-1970s, appears to be “so damaged” that he may be unable to participate fully in his defence, the attorneys said.
They are also seeking information about the secret CIA prisons where Ghailani and some other suspected terrorists were held prior to their transfer to the US military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
In detaining Ghailani for five years, US authorities have violated his right to a speedy trial, the attorneys add.
Ghailani’s lawyers acknowledge that the terrorism charges against their client raise legitimate concerns about US national security.
But the attorneys add in their court filing: “Can national security trump an indicted defendant’s constitutional right to a speedy trial?”
Ghailani’s case has special significance because he is the first Guantanamo inmate set to be tried in a US civilian court.
The case is also highly sensitive, as suggested by the many blacked-out pages in federal court documents that appear to refer to the circumstances of Ghailani’s detention and to information he provided under interrogation.
Responding to concerns that the detention system violates US principles, Obama had pledged to close the Guantanamo prison by next month, but he recently acknowledged that the deadline would not be met. More than 200 detainees are still being held there.
Ghailani was captured in Pakistan six years after the bombings in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 212 Africans and 12 Americans.
He was held for two years at an undisclosed location outside the United States prior to being sent to Guantanamo.
Ghailani was moved to New York in June to await trial.
Prosecutors say that Ghailani helped assemble the bomb used in the Dar attack and conspired with those responsible for the nearly simultaneous explosion in Nairobi.
