afrol News, 12 January - The Defence lawyers of Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a Tanzanian national charged over his alleged role in the 1998 US embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya has appealed for his case to be thrown out for being denied a right to speedy trial.

Mr Ghailani who is the first Guantanamo detainee standing trial in a US civilian court, his case has been dragging in the Manhattan justice system.

His lawyers argued that his constitutional rights were violated because he was denied a speedy trial, also stating that he was tortured in a secret US Criminal Investigation Agency black site.

However, Prosecutors say that Mr Ghailani underwent enhanced interrogation because he knew critical intelligence about Al Qaeda that investigators needed in order to save American lives.

They also argue that he never made a formal request for a fast-track trial and therefore has no right to demand his case be dismissed.

Mr Ghailani's case, which coincides with the eighth anniversary of the first group of 20 detainees being sent to Guantanamo in 2002, is a test for President Barack Obama's plans to shut down the US military prison.

Last week, the US president reiterated his commitment to shut it down although the White House has conceded that he will not meet his self-imposed deadline of the end of January.

President Obama also suspended the transfer of Guantanamo detainees to Yemen last week, following revelations that Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab accused of trying to destroy a Detroit-bound US airliner on 25 December reportedly received al-Qaeda training in Yemen.

Nearly 200 detainees remain at Guantanamo, nearly half of them from Yemen.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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