bodyguard told a New York judge Thursday he would boycott his own trial if he kept getting a cavity search every time he went to court.
Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a suspected al-Qaida militant accused in the deadly 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya, told U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan the strip searches, which require him to squat and expose his genitals, brought back memories of enhanced interrogation techniques used to extract information from him when he was held in secret prisons run by the CIA from 2004 to 2006, when he was moved to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
"I would not want to come here" and would instead "waive my right" to attend his trial if cavity searches continued, Ghailani told Kaplan.
Kaplan, who told Ghailani his defense against terrorism charges might be harmed if he boycotted his trial, said he would rule on Ghailani's request after hearing from psychologist Katherine Porterfield of the Program for Survivors of Torture at New York's Bellevue Hospital.
Porterfield, who was at a Guantanamo Bay proceeding Thursday, wrote that "nudity serves as a profound 'trigger' for Mr. Ghailani, thrusting him into vivid memories of the interrogation process he endured, as well as a real fear that further maltreatment will occur in the present setting," The New York Times reported.
She said he would be "at risk to be unable to function in a courtroom" if the searches continued.
Ghailani, a Tanzanian, will be the first Guantanamo Bay detainee to be tried in a U.S. civilian court.
He pleaded not guilty to federal conspiracy charges on June 10, 2009.
The bombing attacks organized by al-Qaida killed 224 people and wounded thousands.
Ghailani could face the death penalty.
He later served as a bodyguard for Osama bin Laden, authorities say.
Ghailani acknowledged having once met bin Laden and also Khalid Sheik Mohammed, a senior al-Qaida planner held at Guantanamo who is the acknowledged mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
No comments:
Post a Comment