Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani from an FBI screen grab. (Getty)
The Justice Department announced earlier this morning that Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani has been transferred to New York to face criminal charges for his alleged role in the Aug. 7, 1998 bombing of the U.S. Embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya.
Ghailani, a Tanzanian, had been imprisioned at Guantanamo since September 2006. He was recently referred for criminal prosecution in the Southern District of New York, where he faces a March 2001 superseding indictment. The Justice Department said Ghailani is expected to make his initial appearance in Manhattan federal court later today.
The transfer comes as a debate rages in Congress over whether the administration should be allowed to move Guantanamo detainees into the United States.
The House Appropriations Committee is scheduled to consider a fiscal 2010 spending measure for the Justice Department this morning that includes language barring such transfers until the administration presents a plan for handling Guantanamo detainees. A fiscal 2009 supplemental spending measure is being delayed in part over similar language.
Ghailani faces 286 counts, including separate charges of murder for each of the 224 people killed in the U.S. Embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya.
"With his appearance in federal court today, Ahmed Ghailani is being held accountable for his alleged role in the bombing of U.S. Embassies in Tanzania and Kenya and the murder of 224 people," said Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr.. "The Justice Department has a long history of securely detaining and successfully prosecuting terror suspects through the criminal justice system, and we will bring that experience to bear in seeking justice in this case."
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