Recent Appearances...

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Recent Appearances...

Home Front: WoT

Abu Anas al-Libi in New York awaiting trial

2013-10-15

[NYDAILYNEWS] A Libyan who has been held and interrogated for a week aboard a U.S. warship is now in New York awaiting trial on terrorism charges, U.S. officials said Monday.

The Al Qaeda suspect, known as Abu Anas al-Libi, has been under federal indictment in New York for more than a decade.

He's due to stand trial over whether he helped plan and conduct surveillance for the bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa in 1998.

Two U.S. officials said he arrived in New York on Saturday and has been held while he awaits an arraignment in federal court.

Al-Libi would be the latest in a string of defendants to face civilian trials under President Barack Obama
My friends, we live in the greatest nation in the history of the world. I hope you'll join with me as we try to change it...
Early in his term, he faced criticism for planning to prosecute admitted 9/11 criminal mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in New York.

Since then, however, the city has hosted the trial of Ahmed Ghailani, who received a life sentence on a terrorism charge in 2011.

Al-Libi, whose full name is Nazih Abdul-Hamed al-Ruqai, could be in court as early as Tuesday, officials said.

Link

Terror Networks

Headley listed among 5 high-value targets

2013-02-16

President Barack Obamas top counterterrorism adviser John Brennan has listed convicted key Mumbai terror attack plotter David Coleman Headley among five high-value targets that had been captured with US intelligence support.

Brennan, Obamas nominee to be the next chief of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), listed Pakistani-American Headley, who was last month sentenced to 35 years of imprisonment by a Chicago court for his role in the Lashkar-e-Taiba staged November 2008 Mumbai attack, in response to questions from a Senate panel.

Since January 2009 when he became Obamas terrorism adviser, dozens of individuals have been arrested, detained, interrogated, and convicted of terrorism-related offences in federal court, he told the Senate Intelligence Committee in written answers Friday.

Individuals arrested here in the United States include David Headley, Mansoor Arbabsiar, Najibullah Zazi, Faisal Shahzad, and Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.

Individuals initially taken into US custody overseas include Ahmed Ghailani, Jesse Curtis Morton, Mohamed Ibrahim Ahmed, and Betim Kaziu, and subsequently brought to the United States for interrogation and prosecution, Brennan said.

In response to other questions, Brennan said setting up a special court to oversee deadly drone strikes against American citizens is worth considering but raises difficult questions over how much authority it would have in decisions currently made by the president.

It would raise some novel, and potentially difficult, questions and furthermore would grant courts authority over decisions that have traditionally been exercised principally, if not exclusively, by the executive branch, he said.

Link

Home Front: WoT

First U.S. trial for Gitmo detainee ends in life sentence

2011-02-27

Must not have been any confidential information at stake here or he'd be walking the streets of NY for sure.
A judge sentenced the first Guantanamo detainee to have a U.S. civilian trial to life in prison Tuesday, saying anything he suffered at the hands of the CIA and others "pales in comparison to the suffering and the horror" caused by the bombing of two U.S. embassies in Africa in 1998.

U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan sentenced Ahmed Ghailani to life, calling the attacks "horrific" and saying the deaths and damage they caused far outweighs "any and all considerations that have been advanced on behalf of the defedndant." He also ordered Ghailani to pay a $33 million fine.
Ooh, that's a lotta fully-crushed 3/4- gravel. Better get to swinging that sledge, Nancy.
Kaplan announced the sentenced in a packed Manhattan courtroom after calling it a day of justice for the defendant, as well as for the families of 224 people who died in the al-Qaida bombings, including a dozen Americans, and thousands more who were injured.

Kaplan denounced the attacks and said he was satisfied that Ghailani knew and intended that people would be killed as a result of his actions and the conspiracy he joined.
I wonder how many will sieze on the fact that the judge was jewish and obviously biased against an innocent terrorist.

Link

Home Front: WoT

Foopy gets life

2011-01-26

[Al Jazeera] A judge has sentenced the first Guantanamo detainee to have a US civilian trial to life in prison, saying anything the Tanzanian man ~~supposedly~~ suffered at the hands of the CIA and others "pales in comparison to the suffering and the horror" caused by the bombing of two US embassies in East Africa in 1998.

US District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan on Tuesday sentenced Ahmed Ghailani to life, calling the attacks "horrific" and saying the deaths and damage they caused far outweighs "any and all considerations that have been advanced on behalf of the defendant." He also ordered Ghailani to pay $33m in restitution.

Kaplan announced the sentencing in a packed Manhattan courtroom after calling it a day of justice for the defendant, as well as for the families of 224 people who died in the twin 1998 al-Qaeda bombings of embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

The victims included dozen Americans, and thousands more who were maimed.

As survivors and victims' loved ones spoke behind him, many in tears, Ghailani bowed his head and closed his eyes while gripping the edge of the defence table with both hands.

The judge said he wanted a sentence that "makes it crystal clear that others engaged or contemplating engaging in deadly acts of terrorism risk enormously serious consequences." He said he was satisfied that Ghailani knew and intended that people would be killed as a result of his actions and the conspiracy he joined.

Ghailani, 36, was convicted late last year of conspiring to destroy government buildings but acquitted of more than 200 counts of murder and dozens of other charges. The charge carries a mandatory minimum of 20 years in prison and a maximum of life. He had asked for leniency, saying he never intended to kill anyone and he was tortured.

Ghailani, a Tanzanian, was captured in Pakistain in 2004 and later ~~supposedly~~ interrogated at a secret CIA-run camp. He was moved to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in 2006 before being transferred to New York for prosecution in 2009.

The trial late last year at a lower Manhattan courthouse had been viewed as a test case for a goal stated by Barack B.O. Obama, US president - putting other terrorism detainees, including self-professed Sept. 11, 2001 attacks criminal mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed, on trial on US soil.

So far, Ghailani's is the only case to be tried as such and on Wednesday, it was reported that the B.O. regime will be lifting the ban on military tribunals, allowing them to resume at the Guantanamo Bay prison facility.

The judge rejected Ghailani's pleas for leniency, saying whatever Ghailani ~~supposedly~~ suffered at the hands of the CIA and others "pales in comparison to the suffering and the horror he and his confederates caused."

Evidence at trial showed that Ghailani helped purchase bomb components prior to the attacks, including 15 gas tanks designed to enhance the power of the bombs, along with one of the bomb vehicles.

Written descriptions of FBI interviews quoted Ghailani as saying he realised a week before the bombings that they were intended to strike a US embassy. The jury did not see those descriptions, but they were submitted for Kaplan to consider for sentencing.

Ghailani's lawyers argued that he was duped by friends into participating in the attack and ~~supposedly~~ was upset when he saw the damage done.

Before sentencing, Peter Quijano, Ghailani's defence attorney, portrayed his client as a hero, saying he had provided US authorities with "intelligence and information that arguably saved lives and I submit that is not hyperbole." He also said Ghailani ~~supposedly~~ cried when he learnt about the attacks. Ghailani declined to speak on his own behalf.

But outside the courthouse immediately after the life sentence was announced, US Attorney Preet Bharara said, "Today, our goal was achieved, as Ahmed Ghailani will never again breathe free air."

Link

Home Front: WoT

Clinton endorses civilian trials for "vast majority" of terror detainees

2010-11-22

(KUNA) -- Appearing on a round of Sunday talk shows, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
... sometimes described as the Smartest Woman in the World and at other times as Mrs. Bill...
endorsed civilian trials, rather than military commissions, for "vast majority" of Guantanamo detainees.

"We do believe that what are called Article Three trials, in other words in our civilian courts, are appropriate for the vast majority of detainees," Clinton told Fox News' Chris Wallace.

This week, a civilian trial convicted Ahmed Ghailani, a 36-year old Tanzanian, on one count of conspiring to damage or destroy American property with an bomb in the 1998 US embassy bombing attacks that killed 224. He was acquitted of more than 280 other counts and faces 20 years to life in prison.

The cast thrust into the spotlight the difficulties of trying Guantanamo Bay inmates in civilian courts amid concerns that evidence against them is tainted or extracted under duress during secret CIV renditions.

Clinton asserted that civilian courts are more efficient compared to military commissions.

"If you look at the comparison between beturbanned goons who are now serving time in our maximum security prisons compared to what military commissions have been able to do, theres no comparison," She later said on NBC.

"We get convictions, we send people away in our civilian courts at a much more regularized and predictable way than yet weve been able to figure out how in the military commission," she added.

However,
The infamous However...
in the case of Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the self-confessed criminal mastermind behind the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Clinton deferred to the Attorney Generals recommendations on where he should be tried.

"I think that that is a cast that is a very difficult one because of all the security issues and the other problems. There will be a recommendation made by the Attorney General," Clinton said.

The B.O. regime is seeking to try Mohammed, and four alleged co-conspirators, in the same New York City court that charged Ghailani, but has faced strong bipartisan opposition from Congress. The issue hampers President Barack B.O. Obamas plans to close the controversial Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba, where 170 prisoners are being held.

Link

Home Front: WoT

Examiner Editorial: After terror trial fiasco, Holder should go

2010-11-21

[Washington Examiner] In justifying his decision last year to try Ahmed Ghailani in a civilian court rather than by a military commission, Attorney General Eric Holder reassured Americans that he and President B.O. knew that "failure is not an option. These are cases that have to be won." Now that Holder has failed to gain a single murder conviction of an admitted participant in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 224 people, including 12 Americans, he should resign immediately. The Ghailani verdict exposes Holder's appointment as a profound mistake with deeply damaging implications for America's security.

Ghailani, the first Guantanamo detainee to be tried in civilian court, was charged with 285 counts, including 224 murder counts. Holder's team chose this case specifically to prove that civilian courts could convict terrorists. Instead, they succeeded only in gaining a conviction on one charge of conspiring to destroy government buildings. Ghailani was spotted by witnesses purchasing gas tanks, using al Qaeda funds, that were used in the truck bombings. The FBI found a blasting cap in his room at an al Qaeda safe house. Ghailani decamped to Pakistain the day before the bombings after lying to his family about his destination and his reason for leaving. But the jury never heard these facts because so much of the crucial evidence was barred by the judge.

Link

Home Front: WoT

Foopie cleared of terror charges in key Guantanamo trial

2010-11-19

[Daily Nation (Kenya)] The first former Guantanamo Bay inmate to be tried in civilian court was cleared of terror charges Wednesday, but could still face life in prison for his role in the 1998 bombings of two US embassies.

The surprise verdict was the latest hit to already dim prospects of trying other Guantanamo prisoners -- including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-proclaimed criminal mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks -- in US civilian courts rather than military tribunals.

After five days of deliberations, a federal jury in US District Court in New York found Ahmed Ghailani guilty of conspiracy to destroy US property, which carries a sentence of at least 20 years and up to life in prison, but cleared him of all other 285 murder, conspiracy and other charges.

Sentencing was set for January 25.

The decision marked a blow to President Barack B.O. Obama's plans to close down Guantanamo, the notorious US military base where 174 detainees remain, and move inmates into the civilian justice system. It was also likely to revive the acrimonious debate over how the closure should take place.

"We are at war with Al-Qaeda. Members of the organization, and their associates, should be treated as warriors, not common criminals. We put our nation at risk by criminalizing the war," Republican Senator Lindsey Graham
... the endangered South Carolina RINO...
said in a statement, adding he was "deeply disappointed" with the verdict.

"Going forward, I once again strongly encourage the B.O. regime to use military commissions to prosecute enemy combatants, particularly the 9/11 conspirators like Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba."

The South Carolina Republican previously made an offer to Obama, saying he could convince Republicans to vote in support of closing the detention center if the president agrees to try the "war on terror" detainees in military tribunals.

Opponents of civilian trials have questioned the ability and cost to provide the necessary security, while some observers say it is problematic to prosecute defendants who have been deprived of all rights, often for years, in the same way as ordinary suspects.

During the four-week trial, prosecutors painted the baby-faced 36-year-old as a scheming plotter who helped Al-Qaeda bombers prepare the truck bombs that slammed almost simultaneously into the Kenyan and Tanzanian embassies, killing 224 people and injuring thousands more.

His defense attorney, Peter Quijano, called no witnesses and Ghailani did not take the stand.

Instead, through cross-examination and a blistering closing argument, Quijano sought to undermine the credibility of witnesses produced by the government and he portrayed Ghailani as an innocent dupe who was used by Al-Qaeda, but who knew nothing of the plot.

Ghailani "will face, and we will seek, the maximum sentence of life without parole when he is sentenced in January," said US Attorney Preet Bharara.

Daphne Eviatar, from Human Rights First, said the trial demonstrated the federal court system was "efficient, fair and transparent," and there was no need to keep Guantanamo open.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) also urged Obama to not bow to pressure from politicians and other politicians to try Guantanamo detainees in the military commissions system, which has only yielded five convictions thus far.

"Federal courts are not only the right place but the most effective place to prosecute terrorism suspects," said ACLU National Security Project director Hina Shamsi.

But skeptics could seize on the fact that the presiding judge, Lewis Kaplan, ruled at the outset of the trial to exclude the government's star witness, who had been expected to testify he sold Ghailani explosives.

Kaplan said Hussein Abebe was inadmissible as a witness because he was identified through information obtained from Ghailani while under extreme duress in CIA custody.

The ruling severely weakened the government's case. It also struck at the core of what many consider to be the problem with applying regular legal codes to defendants who, like Ghailani, have been held in secret CIA prisons and subjected to torture.

Link

Home Front: WoT

Gitmo detainee acquitted of all but 1 charge in NY

2010-11-17

Yes, this is gonna work out real well...
NEW YORK The first Guantanamo detainee to face a civilian trial was acquitted Wednesday of all but one of the hundreds of charges he helped unleash death and destruction on two U.S. embassies in 1998 a mixed result for what's been viewed as a terror test case.

A federal jury convicted Ahmed Ghailani of one count of conspiracy to destroy U.S. property and acquitted him on more than 280 other counts, including one murder count for each of the 224 people killed in the embassy bombings. The anonymous jurors deliberated over seven days.

Link

-Lurid Crime Tales-

Note signals deadlocked jury in Ahmed Ghailani terror case

2010-11-15

A holdout juror in the trial of the first Guantanamo Bay detainee has asked to be removed from the panel, signaling a deadlocked jury.

The juror said in a note today that she felt she was being attacked after reaching a conclusion that is not going to change. Twelve anonymous jurors are considering charges against Ahmed Ghailani.

Link

Home Front: WoT

Obama Orders First Release of a "High-Value Detainee"?

2009-12-22

Another important note about the Obama administration's transfer of Gitmo detainee Abdullahi Sudi Arale to Somaliland: In June 2007, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman called Arale a high-value detainee."

"Abdullahi Sudi Arale is suspected of being a member of the Al Qaeda terrorist network in East Africa, serving as a courier between East Africa Al Qaeda (EAAQ) and Al Qaeda in Pakistan. Since his return from Pakistan to Somalia in September 2006, he has held a leadership role in the EAAQ-affiliated Somali Council of Islamic Courts (CIC).

There is significant information available indicating that Arale has been assisting various EAAQ-affiliated extremists in acquiring weapons and explosives, and has facilitated terrorist travel by providing false documents for AQ and EAAQ-affiliates and foreign fighters traveli

That phrase was reserved for less than twenty detainees. As far as I know, the U.S. has never transferred a "high-value detainee" from its custody.

One "high-value detainee," Ahmed Ghailani, was transferred to New York for trial. But he is, of course, still detained by the U.S.
Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a Tanzanian who faces terrorism charges for his role in the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies, asked a judge to order U.S. prosecutors to surrender information about "black sites" where he was held.
Does this mean that Arale was the first "high-value detainee" ever transferred from American custody?

Link

Terror Networks

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed & four others to stand trial in New York

2009-11-13

WASHINGTON -- Prosecutors will seek the death penalty for self-proclaimed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other Guantanamo Bay detainees, who will be sent to New York to face trial in a civilian federal court, Attorney General Eric Holder said Friday.

At a news conference Friday, the attorney general said five other suspects will be sent to military commissions. Holder said the detainees in the New York case will be tried in a courthouse just blocks from where the Sept. 11 attackers felled the twin towers.

Bringing such notorious suspects to U.S. soil to face trial is a key step in President Obama's plan to close the terror suspect detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Obama initially planned to close the detention center by Jan. 22, but the administration is no longer expected to meet that deadline.

The New York case may also force the court system to confront a host of difficult legal issues surrounding counterterrorism programs begun after the 2001 attacks, including the harsh interrogation techniques once used on some of the suspects while in CIA custody. The most severe method -- waterboarding, or simulated drowning -- was used on Mohammed 183 times in 2003, before the practice was banned.

Holder also announced that a major suspect in the bombing of the USS Cole, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, will face justice before a military commission, as will a handful of other detainees to be identified at the same announcement, the official said.

It was not immediately clear where commission-bound detainees like al-Nashiri might be sent, but a military brig in South Carolina has been high on the list of considered sites.

The actual transfer of the detainees from Guantanamo to New York isn't expected to happen for many more weeks because formal charges have not been filed against most of them.

Holder had been considering other possible trial locations, including Virginia, Washington and a different courthouse in New York City. Those districts could all end up conducting trials of other Guantanamo detainees sent to federal court later on.

The attorney general's decision in these cases comes just before a Monday deadline for the government to decide how to proceed against 10 detainees facing military commissions. The administration has already sent one Guantanamo detainee, Ahmed Ghailani, to New York to face trial, but chose not to seek death in that case.

At the last major trial of al-Qaeda suspects held at that courthouse in 2001, prosecutors did seek death for some of the defendants.

Mohammed already has an outstanding terror indictment against him in New York, for an unsuccessful plot called "Bojinka" to simultaneously take down multiple airliners over the Pacific Ocean in the 1990s.

Some members of Congress have fought any effort to bring Guantanamo Bay detainees to trial in the United States, saying it would be too dangerous for nearby civilians. The Obama administration has defended the planned trials, saying many terrorists have been safely tried, convicted, and imprisoned in the United States, including the 1993 World Trade Center bomber, Ramzi Yousef.

Mohammed and the four others --Waleed bin Attash, Ramzi Binalshibh, Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi and Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali -- are accused of orchestrating the attacks that killed 2,973 people on Sept. 11, 2001.

Mohammed admitted to interrogators that he was the mastermind of the attacks -- he allegedly proposed the concept to Osama bin Laden as early as 1996, obtained funding for the attacks from bin Laden, oversaw the operation and trained the hijackers in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The charges against the others are:

Bin Attash, a Yemeni, allegedly ran an al-Qaeda training camp in Logar, Afghanistan, where two of the 19 hijackers were trained. Bin Attash is believed to have been bin Laden's bodyguard. Authorities say bin Laden selected him as a hijacker, but he was prevented from participating when he was briefly detained in Yemen in early 2001.
Binalshibh, a Yemeni, allegedly helped find flight schools for the hijackers, helped them enter the United States and assisted with financing the operation. He allegedly was selected to be a hijacker and made a "martyr video" in preparation for the operation, but was unable to get a U.S. visa. He also is believed to be a lead operative for a foiled plot to crash aircraft into London's Heathrow Airport.

Ali allegedly helped nine of the hijackers travel to the United States and sent them $120,000 for expenses and flight training. He is believed to have served as a key lieutenant to Mohammed in Pakistan. He was born in Pakistan and raised in Kuwait.

Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi, a Saudi, allegedly helped the hijackers with money, western clothing, traveler's checks and credit cards. Al-Hawsawi testified in the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui, saying he had seen Moussaoui at an al-Qaeda guesthouse in Kandahar, Afghanistan, in early 2001, but was never introduced to him or conducted operations with him.

Link

Home Front: WoT

Gitmo detainees sent to Iraq, Chad

2009-06-12

U.S. officials say two more Guantanamo Bay detainees have been released, sent to their home countries of Iraq and Chad.

The Justice Department says Jawad Jabber Sadkhan was sent to Iraq Wednesday night. Mohammed el-Gharani, the youngest detainee at Guantanamo, arrived in Chad Thursday.

The transfers come as four other detainees arrived Thursday in Bermuda, bringing the total number of detainees still at Guantanamo to 232. Earlier this week, the first Guantanamo detainee arrived on U.S. soil, when officials sent Ahmed Ghailani to New York to face trial.

Link

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