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Key witness ruled out of terror trial over torture concerns

07 October 2010 01:58 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. A key witness at the trial of the first Guantanamo detainee to be tried in the United States cannot testify, a judge ruled Wednesday, because of concerns over torture, APA reports quoting CNN.
The man on trial, Ahmed Ghailani, told the CIA about the witness while agents were interrogating him, and the government has conceded that everything Ghailani said in CIA custody can be considered to have been coerced.
"The government has elected not to litigate the details of Ghailani’s treatment while in CIA custody," Judge Lewis Kaplan noted in his ruling Wednesday.
"In these circumstances, the Constitution does not permit [Hussain] Abebe to testify in this criminal trial," the judge added. He left a potential opening for the government if it can show there was little connection between the identification of Abebe as a possible witness and the CIA’s treatment of Ghailani.
The ruling is a victory for Ghailani’s defense attorneys, who had asked that Abebe not be allowed to testify.
Ghailani is accused of involvement in the 1998 bombings of United States embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. The attacks killed 224 people, including 12 Americans.
He has pleaded not guilty.
Opening arguments in the trial were expected to begin Wednesday, but the judge delayed the trial for 48 hours to give the prosecution an opportunity to appeal.
Wednesday’s ruling underscores the legal difficulties inherent in the Obama administration’s plan to try former Guantanamo Bay detainees in civilian courts on U.S. soil.
The Tanzanian national was held in the camp at the U.S. base in Cuba from September 2006 until last June.
Ghailani’s arrival in New York came amid tension between Congress and President Obama over the planned closing of Guantanamo.
The transfer "sets a dangerous precedent for the more than 200 suspected terrorists currently held at Guantanamo Bay," said Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, in a written statement.
By bringing Ghailani to the United States, the Obama administration "is granting a terrorist and murderer additional constitutional rights," he said. "Even if convicted, Ghailani could be released in the U.S. after serving his sentence."
The 1998 embassy attacks are among several crimes for which Ghailani has been indicted in New York. He was captured in Pakistan in 2004 and taken two years later to Guantanamo.
Ghailani faces 286 counts in the indictment against him.
His alleged crimes include conspiring with Osama bin Laden and other members of al Qaeda to kill Americans anywhere in the world.
He also faces separate charges of murder for each of the 224 people killed and other offenses related to the bombings.