By Ramadhan Rajab and Agencies
A man accused of bombing the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, where 224 people were killed, has been flown from Guantanamo Bay to US to face trial.
Ahmed Ghailani is the first Guantanamo Bay detainee to be flown to New York by US authorities for trial.
Ghailani’s trial is a crucial step forward for Kenyans and Tanzanians who lost their relatives in the bomb blast in seeking justice.
The US Justice Department said marshals took custody of Ghailani from his military jailers yesterday and brought him to the Metropolitan Correctional Centre in Manhattan where he is expected to appear in a Manhattan federal court.
built bombs
"With his appearance in federal court today, Ahmed Ghailani is being held accountable for his alleged role in the bombing of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and the murder of 224 people," Attorney General Eric Holder was quoted saying in a press release.
Ghailani was indicted in 1998 for the Al Qaeda bombings of the US embassies, attacks that left more than 220 people dead, including 12 Americans.
The man, a Tanzanian, was in his 20s when prosecutors say he helped terrorists build one of the bombs that destroyed the embassies.
US authorities categorised Ghailani as a high-value detainee after he was captured in Pakistan in 2004. He was transferred to the detention centre at the US naval base in Cuba two years later. After the August 8, 1998, bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, Ghailani worked for Al Qaeda as a document forger, trainer at a terror camp and bodyguard to bin Laden, according to military prosecutors.
Since his capture, he has denied knowing the TNT and oxygen tanks he delivered would be used to make a bomb. He also denied buying a vehicle used in one of the attacks, claiming he could not drive.
Now, the Obama administration is trying to put him through the US criminal justice system, despite claims by Republican critics that doing so would endanger American lives. Some lawmakers have opposed bringing any Guantanamo detainee to the US for trial, even under heavily guarded settings.
