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Man Convicted in '98 Attacks
Acquittal on Most Charges Stirs Debate About Terror Trials in Civilian Courts
AFRICA NEWS
NOVEMBER 18, 2010
By CHAD BAY And EVAN PEREZ
NEW YORK—A jury convicted a former Guantanamo detainee of one count of conspiracy in the 1998 bombing of U.S. embassies in Africa, but acquitted him of more than 280 other counts in a case widely seen as a test of the Obama administration's effort to try terror suspects in civilian courts.
Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, 36, of Tanzania, was the first former detainee of the prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to be tried in a U.S civilian court. He faces 20 years to life in prison.
Mr. Ghailani's acquittal of the vast majority of charges could boost the arguments of those who maintain that military tribunals, and not civilian courts, are the proper venues for major terrorist trials. It also bolsters the view from others who say the security fears that surrounded the decision to try Mr. Ghailani in lower Manhattan were overblown.
The verdict, delivered Wednesday by an anonymous jury of six women and six men, is "a blow to both sides of the debate; neither side comes away with a clean argument for its case," said Robert Chesney, a University of Texas law professor and who served on a Obama Justice Department detainee task force. On one hand, he said, the government can claim some victory with one guilty count, but opponents of civilian trials can't ignore that Mr. Ghailani will likely get a tough sentence.
Mr. Ghailani, who was imprisoned Guantanamo from 2006 to 2009, was charged in connection with two deadly truck bombings outside U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya that killed 224 people and injured thousands more.
Lawyers for Mr. Ghailani had argued that he was duped by people who he thought were his friends into purchasing material used in a bombing outside the U.S. embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. "We still truly believe he is innocent of all of the charges," said Peter Quijano, Mr. Ghailani's lawyer, who said he planned to appeal the conviction, but declined to discuss on what grounds
Mr. Ghailani was transferred from Guantanamo to New York to face trial before political opposition grew against holding major terrorism trials at the courthouse in lower Manhattan just blocks from the site of the World Trade Center.
Attorney General Eric Holder announced plans to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other alleged plotters of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks at the same courthouse, but the White House has now backed off those plans in the face of resistance from lawmakers and city residents.
The Ghailani trial was viewed by top administration officials as a way of showing that civilian courts can bring convictions of top alleged terrorists, and firming up the argument to use both civilian and military trials. No other Guantanamo detainees have yet been transferred, though the administration had identified 44 detainees to be tried in either civilian or military trials.
Proponents of civilian courts have said that they have a greater degree of transparency and precedent. Critics, led by Republicans in Congress, have argued that terror trials should be carried out by military tribunals.
On Wednesday, Matthew Miller, Justice Department spokesman, said: "We respect the jury's verdict and are pleased that Ahmed Ghailani now faces a minimum of 20 years in prison and a potential life sentence for his role in the embassy bombings." The Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, whose office handled the case, said he would seek the maximum sentence of life without parole during sentencing in January.
However, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., one of the few Republicans who supported the Obama administration's efforts to close Guantanamo, said that military commissions should be used to prosecute terror suspects. "While I respect the judgement of the court, I'm deeply disappointed in the verdict," he said.
"In the court of public opinion, a verdict like this hurts the concept that you need to use all the tools we have against this threat," said Patrick Rowan, who served as chief of the Justice Department's national security division, during the administration of former President George W. Bush, and who has argued in favor of both civilian and military trials.
The Constitution Project, a think tank that examines constitutional issues, said the trial showed that traditional federal criminal courts are capable of handling complicated terrorism cases. "The trial took place in downtown NYC without security problems and proceeded more rapidly than was anticipated," it said in a statement. "Clearly, concerns about security, extreme costs and delay proved to be red herrings."
Prosecutors had alleged that Mr. Ghailani purchased a truck and other materials used in the Tanzanian bombing, including gas tanks containing pure oxygen and acetylene. Mr. Ghailani had been charged with murder in the deaths of people at both embassies. Four others were convicted and received life sentences in a separate 2001 trial in New York stemming from the embassy bombings.
Prior to the start of the five-week trial, the government faced an early setback when U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan barred prosecutors from using a key witness, because the witness's identity was discovered through harsh interrogation techniques, which his lawyers have said equated to torture, while in CIA custody. On Monday, one juror asked to be excused because she couldn't agree with the other jurors but the judge order them to continue to deliberate and declined a request by the defense for a mistrial.
The verdict could prompt second-guessing of prosecutors' decision not to appeal Judge Kaplan's ruling to exclude testimony of the key witness.
Beyond the battle over Guantanamo, the Ghailani case was a test for how civilian courts would deal with evidence gained from harsh interrogations and detainees who have been held for years without trial at Guantanamo.
Despite the setback, federal terrorism trials already in the works, including against the Nigerian man charged in last year's Christmas Day airliner bombing attempt, are likely to continue, though the suspect in that case has indicated he may plead guilty. More cloudy is the fate of detainees at Guantanamo who the administration wants to move to the U.S. for civilian trials.
One of President Barack Obama's first acts in office was to sign an executive order to close Guantanamo, which he said served as a recruiting tool for Islamist terrorism.
The administration has resettled dozens of prisoners, mostly in Europe, and planned to move remaining detainees to a former state prison in Illinois, which would be outfitted to maximum federal security standards.
On Wednesday, Judge Kaplan told the jurors after the verdict was rendered: "You have demonstrated also that American justice can be rendered calmly, deliberately and fairly by ordinary people who are not beholden to any government, including this one."
Embassy Bombings, And Their Aftermath
Date: Aug. 7, 1998
Location: Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya
Death toll: 224 people, including 12 Americans
Prosecution: U.S. charged 21 people, including Osama bin Laden, in the plot
Prior trial: Four defendants tried in 2001 convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
New verdict: Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani convicted.
Government to seek life sentence.
Write to Chad Bray at
chad.bray@dowjones.com
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