Judge: Detainee's treatment not related to charges

Alleged CIA torture does not preclude prosecuting an individual for terror crimes, a Manhattan federal judge ruled Monday in a precedent-setting case involving the first Guantánamo Bay detainee moved to civilian courts for trial.

U.S. Judge Lewis Kaplan said that Tanzanian Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani could be tried for allegedly conspiring to bomb two U.S. embassies in Africa in 1998 despite claims of mistreatment while he was held in secret CIA prisons and at Guantánamo from 2004 till 2009.

Kaplan rejected Ghailani's argument that abusive treatment could require the dismissal of a subsequent criminal prosecution under the Constitution's guarantee against being deprived of liberty without "due process of law."

With the exception of one witness that Ghailani disclosed during his interrogation, the judge said that prosecutors had promised to not make use in court of any statements obtained by the CIA during his questioning.

"In consequence, any deprivation of liberty that Ghailani might suffer as a result of a conviction in this case would be entirely unconnected to the alleged due process violation," Kaplan wrote. "Even if Ghailani was mistreated while in CIA custody . . . there would be no connection between such mistreatment and this prosecution."

Although Kaplan's ruling indicated the judiciary would turn a blind eye to police or executive branch mistreatment in subsequent prosecutions, he said civil suits might be a remedy.

Ghailani's treatment has never been described in detail in public court filings. But he has waived appearances in court because, he says, the requirement of a strip search and examination causes flashbacks to his alleged mistreatment by the CIA.

Ghailani also argues that his five-year detention violated his right to a speedy trial. Kaplan has not ruled on that motion.