It was foretold ahead of time during the congressional hearings earlier this year, when the Obama administration said it was deciding to try Gitmo terrorists in civilian court. At the time, Attorney General Eric Holder, denied that it would cause any problems, that the terrorists would indeed be convicted. As the Tundra Tabloids reported however, many were absolutely dead-set against the move, knowing all too well that military tribunals are indeed the proper venue to try these kinds of combatants, not civilian courts. What a farce. KGS
UPDATE: IPT: The Civilian Trial of Terrorist Ghailani: ‘They Came Within a Hair’s Breadth of Losing the Case Entirely’
U.S. civilian court acquits ex-Guantanamo detainee of all major terrorism charges
The verdict involving a suspect in the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa may complicate efforts to try Sept. 11 defendants in nonmilitary U.S. courts. But Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani may still face life in prison without parole for his conviction on a lesser count.
November 18, 2010|By Carol J. Williams and Geraldine Baum, Los Angeles Times
Reporting from Los Angeles and New York — A New York federal jury acquitted alleged Al Qaeda accomplice Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani on Wednesday of all major terrorism charges in the 1998 suicide bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa that killed 224 people, including 12 Americans.
In the first trial of a former Guantanamo Bay prisoner in civilian court, the Tanzanian was convicted of one count of conspiracy to damage or destroy U.S. property but cleared of 276 counts of murder and attempted murder. The government said it would seek the maximum sentence of life without parole on the conspiracy count.
The verdict could presage trouble for President Obama’s plans to close the U.S. military prison in Cuba and bring its remaining detainees to the United States for trial. Officials who want military commissions to try the men argue that terrorism suspects would get too many rights and protections in civilian court.
