Former Guantanamo Bay detainee Ahmed Ghailani was found not guilty on all but one charge Wednesday by a civilian jury in New York, in a case with ramifications for President Obama’s policy toward Guantanamo and civilian trials for terror suspects.
Ghailani was acquitted in federal court on more than 280 charges in connection with the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, including one murder count for each of the 224 people killed. He was found guilty for only one charge, conspiracy to destroy government buildings.
Ghailani faces a minimum sentence of 20 years in prison and a possible life sentence. He will remain in custody and sentencing will take place on Jan. 25, 2011.
The acquittal is seen as a major blow to the U.S. government, as Ghailani was the first former Gitmo detainee to be tried in a civilian courtroom. The case had been viewed as a possible test case for President Barack Obama administration’s aim of putting other terror detainees — including self-professed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed and four other terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba — on trial on U.S. soil.
The anonymous federal jury deliberated over seven days, with a juror writing a note to the judge saying she felt threatened by other jurors.
(Source: Fox News)
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3 Responses
I don’t see this as a blow to Obama this is exactly what he wanted together with the Judge Louis Kalpan a left wing liberal from Harvard. This is what the left wants, they don’t want to offend Muslims. Liberalism is a mental disorder!!
1. Why a trial in New York if the crime occured in Kenya?
Kenya has a functioning legal system, and a basic legal principle in this country (being an issue that was fought over in 1776, and mentioned specifically in the Bill of Rights), is the trial should be in the same place as the crime. Assuming they had good evidence that he was a mastermind of the attack in Kenya, had they turned him over to the Kenyans he would have been hanged years ago.
2. It sounds like one hold out who compromised. If all he was in fact was an “accessory” the verdict would be correct. It’s possible the DA couldn’t prove he was the principal.
3. The guy will get 20 to life. That’s hardly an aquittal.
It’s surprising that such intelligent individuals as Atty. General Eric Holder did not foresee the hazards of trying those terrorists in a civilian trial, where the rules of evidence are much more demanding and there are so many more legal loopholes, which a terrorist, who in fact participated in the murder of so many people and the destruction that ensued from his actions. If it were a certain former president, I would suspect that, in addition to being a fool he was a communist (If not a card-carrying one, then a sympathizer, for sure.) But President Barack Obama and his Attorney General seem to be patriotic Americans. They should have foreseen the perils of that course, in spite of their overwhelming sense of justice.