Sobbing Osama ex-aide demands end to police cavity search
By ANIThursday, May 6, 2010
NEW YORK - A sobbing ex-bodyguard of Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden has threatened to boycott his own trial if he has to undergo a cavity search every time he comes to court.
Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani’s lawyers say he has post-traumatic stress disorder because of how he was treated while in CIA custody.
According to the New York Daily News, Ghailani - charged with two East African embassy bombings in 1998 - freaked out last November when he was forced to get naked before a court hearing so officers at the Manhattan federal lockup could visually inspect his rear end.
He told his lawyers he would “no longer voluntarily appear in court” unless the feds promise he won’t be “humiliated” again, they wrote.
Ghailani was caught in Pakistan six years after the bombings that killed 200 people, and was held for almost five years in secret CIA prisons before being moved to Guantanamo Bay.
He was transferred to Manhattan last year to stand trial in civilian court.
Described as a master bomb-maker and one-time Bin Laden guard, he has pleaded not guilty.
Manhattan Federal Judge Lewis Kaplan scheduled a hearing to review Ghailani’s request that the searches stop. He wants Ghailani to be there. (ANI)
