A judge on Tuesday sentenced to life in prison the first Guantanamo Bay detainee tried in a civilian court, an outcome that bolsters Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.’s much-criticized desire to prosecute suspected terrorists on U.S. soil.
“Today’s sentencing of Ahmed Ghailani shows yet again the strength of the American justice system in holding terrorists accountable for their actions,” Mr. Holder said in a statement. “Ghailani will now rightly serve the rest of his life in prison for his role in the attacks against American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that left 224 dead, including 12 Americans.”
Ghailani, 36, was acquitted in November of all but one of the hundreds of charges he faced in connection with the 1998 bombings, leading to intense criticisms of the Obama administration for prosecuting a suspected terrorist in civilian court.
But the one charge on which he was convicted — conspiracy to destroy U.S. property — carried a potential sentence of life in prison. That was the maximum punishment he would have received if convicted of all 224 counts of murder as well as 60 other charges. The government previously elected not to pursue the death penalty.
U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan in New York said Ghailani deserved a life sentence because he knew and intended that people would be killed as a result of his actions and the conspiracy he joined.
“This crime was so horrible,” Judge Lewis said in a packed courtroom. “It was a cold-blooded killing and maiming of innocent people on an enormous scale. It wrecked the lives of thousands more … who had their lives changed forever. The purpose of the crime was to create terror by causing death and destruction on a scale that was hard to imagine in 1998 when it occurred.”
Judge Kaplan also imposed a $33 million fine.
Ghailani’s trial has been viewed as a test for the Obama administration’s aim of putting other terrorist suspects, including self-professed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, held at U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on trial on U.S. soil. The results of the case have given fuel to both sides in a heated debate that largely has kept the administration from holding such trials.
Rep. Peter T. King, New York Republican and chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security, in November called the verdict “disgusting” and “tragic,” saying it demonstrated “the absolute insanity of the Obama administration’s decision to try al Qaeda terrorists in civilian courts.”
Mr. King’s remarks were far more measured in a terse statement released Tuesday: “If anyone deserves to spend the rest of his life in prison, it is a murderer and terrorist such as Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani.”
The commander of the USS Cole when it was attacked by al Qaeda terrorists in 2000, also a critic of the Obama administration’s plans to prosecute terrorists in federal court, reiterated those concerns Tuesday, calling the Ghailani case “a mockery of justice and is further proof that civilian trials for enemy combatants are a foolish and misguided strategy.”
But Kirk S. Lippold, now retired from the Navy, also praised the sentence meted out by Judge Lewis.
“The sentence of life in prison is the correct, and only acceptable, punishment for Ahmed Ghailani,” Cmdr. Lippold said in a statement. “The families of those killed by these attacks deserved justice and anything less than the maximum sentence would have been a failure. The punishment fits the crime.”
Critics such as Mr. King and Cmdr. Lippold have urged the Obama administration to prosecute terrorists before military tribunals, while supporters of the administration’s plans said the Ghailani case showed the feasibility of trials in civilian court.
“The verdict and sentencing will be internationally recognized as the product of an open and established system, unlike the tarnished military commissions system,” said Geneve Mantri, Amnesty International USA government relations director for national security and human rights. “This was a very difficult case, needlessly poisoned by the legacies of torture, and it was dealt with quickly, with dexterity and absolutely no disruptions.”
While four others were prosecuted in federal court a decade ago, convicted and sentenced to life in prison in connection with the 1998 embassy bombings, Ghailani’s case was far different and showed the constitutional challenges likely present in potential prosecutions of other Guantanamo detainees.
Unlike his four cohorts, Ghailani wasn’t captured until 2004. Before his arrest, prosecutors said, Ghailani spent time in Afghanistan as a cook and bodyguard for Osama bin Laden and later as a document forger for al Qaeda.
Authorities captured him in Pakistan and held him in a secret overseas CIA prison where his attorneys say he was tortured. Ghailani was taken to Guantanamo in 2006.
On the eve of trial, Judge Kaplan barred the government from calling a key witness because the witness had been identified while Ghailani was being held at a secret CIA prison where harsh interrogation techniques were used. After briefly considering an appeal, prosecutors forged ahead with the case.
Evidence at trial showed that Ghailani helped purchase bomb components before the attacks, including 15 gas tanks designed to enhance the power of the bombs, along with one of the bomb vehicles. Ghailani’s attorneys argued that he was duped by friends into participating in the attack and was upset when he saw the damage.
Ghailani asked Judge Kaplan for leniency because of his treatment at the hands of the CIA, but the judge rejected the plea, saying whatever Ghailani suffered at the hands of the CIA and others “pales in comparison to the suffering and the horror he and his confederates caused.”
A group of tearful survivors of the attacks and family members of those who died spoke at the sentencing. They included Sue Bartley, a Washington-area resident who lost her husband, Julian Leotis Bartley Sr., then U.S. consul general to Kenya, and her son, Julian “Jay” Bartley Jr.
Mrs. Bartley said the attacks were still fresh in her mind and “excruciatingly painful. What remains is a lingering, unsettling feeling that is compounded by grief, deep sadness and anger. The pain is with me every day. Oftentimes, it is unthinkable.”
Justina L. Mdobilu said she was the only Tanzanian victim to attend the sentencing and believed others stayed away because it was too painful.
“Nobody wants to come. People are upset. People are going through post-traumatic syndrome,” she said.
James Ndeda of Nairobi, Kenya, asked Judge Kaplan to order Ghailani to prison for a year for each of the victims.
“Ghailani and his accomplices shattered our lives,” said Mr. Ndeda, who suffered a skull fracture as well as eye and back problems that continue 12 years later.
• This article is based in part on wire service reports.
• Ben Conery can be reached at bconery@washingtontimes.com.
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