WASHINGTON (AP) - Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, indicted for his role in the attack on the American embassy in Tanzania, says he unknowingly delivered the explosives used in the bombing, according to a Pentagon transcript of his hearing at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. | "I know nothing! Tell them, Hogan." |
Ghailani said he did not know about the assault and was sorry for the role he played, according to the transcript. ``It was without my knowledge what they were doing, but I helped them,'' he said. ``So I apologize to the United States government for what I did. And I'm sorry for what happened to those families who lost, who lost their friends and their beloved ones.'' Ghailani, speaking through a military representative, said he was first told the TNT he carried was soap for washing horses, then later - after he delivered it - was told it was explosives ``for mining for diamonds in Somalia'' and also for a Somali training camp. | "How would I know? I'd never seen soap before." |
Ghailani is one of 14 high-profile detainees that were moved to Guantanamo in September from a secret CIA prison network. Secret hearings for five of them have been conducted so far to determine whether they should be declared ``enemy combatants'' who can be held indefinitely and prosecuted by military tribunals. If they are declared enemy combatants, they could then be charged and tried under the new military commissions law signed by President Bush in October.
Also on Friday, a federal judge said she would not delay a military terrorism trial against another Guantanamo detainee, David Hicks of Australia. Lawyers for Hicks asked that his military commission be suspended until the Supreme Court decides whether the Guantanamo detainees have the right to challenge their detention in U.S. courts. An appeals court ruled last month that they do not. Hicks was captured in Afghanistan and faces charges of providing material support for terrorism. He allegedly fought with the Taliban against U.S.-led forces. He is scheduled to appear before a military commission Monday.
In the law that set up those commissions, Congress stripped federal courts of jurisdiction to get involved in cases involving detainees. The Supreme Court has not said whether it will take up the question. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said she has no jurisdiction in Hick's case. |