First Guantanamo prisoner arrives in US for trial

Washington - US authorities have brought the first Guantanamo Bay detainee to the United States to stand trial in connection to the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, the Justice Department announced Tuesday. Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a Tanzanian national held at Guantanamo Bay since September 2006, arrived early Tuesday in New York to face criminal charges. Ghailani is being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Centre and is expected to make his initial appearance in a Manhattan federal court later Tuesday. He has been charged with conspiracy to commit murder in the deaths of 224 people, including 12 Americans. US authorities allege the al-Qaeda operative helped build one of the bombs used in the attacks in Dar es Salaam and Nairobi. He became the first detainee transferred to the United States from Guantanamo under President Barack Obama's plans to close the facility by early next year. '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,' Attorney General Eric Holder said. Ghailani had already been indicted in the killings of 224 people. He now faces a total of 286 criminal counts, including conspiring with Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda to kill Americans anywhere in the world, the Justice Department said. If convicted, he could be sentenced to 20 years to life in prison, or possible execution. Ghailani was captured in Pakistan in 2004 and later sent to Guantanamo. His trial in New York will serve as a test of Obama's plans to close the prison camp and transfer some detainees for trial in the United States. Obama has also announced plans to resume a reformed version of the military tribunals at Guantanamo established by former president George W Bush for trying terror suspects. Obama, however, has faced fierce opposition from Congress to transferring any detainees to US soil. Days after taking office in January, Obama established a task force to map out a plan for closing Guantanamo and dealing with the 240 detainees there. That task force is due to report in July.