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Terror Suspect Says He Was Denied A Speedy Trial
By
Ben Muessig
Published Dec 2, 2009
Modified Dec 2, 2009
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By
Ben Muessig
Published Dec 2, 2009
Modified Dec 2, 2009
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In a court case that might turn out closely foreshadowing the much-hyped trials of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four other suspected 9/11 plotters, terror suspect Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani has asked a Manhattan judge to dismiss his indictment because authorities denied him his constitutional right to a speedy trial.
The suspect — who is charged with conspiring in the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and is thought to have worked as a bodyguard and cook for Osama Bin Laden — claims that after being captured in Pakistan in 2004, he was subjected to cruel interrogation techniques "amounting to torture" and was denied a lawyer during his two years in secret CIA prisons before being moved to Guantanamo Bay in 2006. Insiders anticipate that lawyers representing the suspects in the 9/11 attacks might use the same strategy.
“We respectfully submit that this case presents possibly the most unique and egregious example of a speedy trial violation in American jurisprudence to date," Mr. Ghailani’s lawyers said in a document that, according to the Times, was heavily due to censored classified information. "This motion asks one primary question. Can national security trump an indicted defendant’s constitutional right to a speedy trial? We respectfully submit that the answer is emphatically and without qualification, 'No.'"
Tagged
9/11
Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani
c.i.a.
constitutional rights
khalid shaikh mohammed
terror trial
terrorist
Ben Muessig
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