NEW YORK (AP) — A federal 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.” The judge also ordered Ghailani to pay a $33 million fine.
Judge 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 Qaeda bombings, including a dozen Americans, and thousands more who were injured.
Judge 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.
“This crime was so horrible,” he said. “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.”
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 Pakistan in 2004 and later interrogated overseas 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 was viewed as a test for President Obama’s aim of putting other terrorism detainees — including self-professed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed — on trial on U.S. soil.
Judge Kaplan rejected Ghailani’s pleas for leniency, 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.”
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. Written descriptions of FBI interviews quoted Ghailani as saying he realized a week before the bombings that they were intended to strike a U.S. embassy.
The jury did not see those descriptions, but they were submitted for Judge Kaplan to consider for sentencing.
The FBI also said Ghailani was trained by al Qaeda after the twin 1998 attacks in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and became a bodyguard and cook for Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan before becoming an expert document forger for the terrorist organization.
Ghailani’s lawyers argued that he was duped by friends into participating in the attack and was upset when he saw the damage done.
A group of tearful survivors of the attacks and family members of those who died spoke at the sentencing, including 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. Often times 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 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.
Ghailani is the fifth person to be sentenced. Four others were sentenced to life in prison after a 2001 trial in Manhattan federal court. Bin Laden is charged in the indictment, as well.
Before sentencing, defense lawyer Peter Quijano portrayed his client as a hero, saying he had provided U.S. authorities with “intelligence and information that arguably saved lives, and I submit that is not hyperbole.”
He also said Ghailani cried when he learned about the attacks. Ghailani declined to speak on his own behalf.
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