Osama bin Laden’s former bodyguard to face civilian trial in New York

NEW YORK - A US court has said Osama bin Laden’s former bodyguard, Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, accused of involvement in attacks on US embassies in Africa will face trial, after rejecting claims that his rights were violated.

Ghailani had argued that he should be released as his right to a speedy trial was violated when he was held for two years at CIA black sites, and for another 33 months at Guantanamo Bay.

However, in a 46-page ruling, New York federal judge Lewis Kaplan said that Ghailani’s trial should go ahead.

“The decisions that caused the delay were not made for the purpose of gaining any advantage over Ghailani in the prosecution of this indictment,” The New York Daily News quoted Kaplan, as having written in his ruling.

“Two years of the delay served compelling interests of national security. The government is entitled to attempt to hold Ghailani accountable in a court of law for his alleged complicity in the murder of 224 people and the injury of more than 1,000 others,” he added.

It is the third setback in two months for Ghailani, who in May tried unsuccessfully to get the case tossed because he was tortured, and then failed to get the judge to stop the strip-searches mandated before his court appearances.

Ghailani was captured in 2004 and charged with helping in the August 7, 1998, truck bombings that destroyed U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Tanzania.

He is the first detainee transferred from Guantanamo to the US for a civilian trial.

The 35-year-old is currently being held in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan. (ANI)