Litigation

Detainee Cites ?Torture,? Seeks Dismissal of Case

By Peter Hardin

Amid the furor over U.S. Justice Department planning to try five 9/11 co-defendants in federal court in New York, the first Guantanamo Bay detainee to face prosecution in the United States is seeking dismissal of all criminal charges lodged against him.

Amed Ghailani, a Tanzanian national, faces charges tied to  the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Tanzania in  1998. His lawyers asked a federal judge  to toss out the charges, citing his protracted  detention overseas and the use of interrogation methods “amounting to torture”  that violated his constitutional rights, according to an article in the Wall Street Journal.

The U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan declined to comment through a spokeswoman. To learn more about the debate over trying Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four co-defendants in New York, click on Gavel Grab.

Full post as published by The Gavel on December 02, 2009 (boomark / email).