Prospective jurors questioned for trial of bid Laden aide

More than 100 prospective jurors were questioned Wednesday in federal court in Manhattan as jury selection began in the trial of alleged former Osama bin Laden aide Ahmed Ghailani for conspiring to blow up two U.S. embassies in Africa in 1998.

Ghailani, a Tanzanian who is the first former CIA "black site" and Guantánamo detainee to be transferred for trial in a civilian court, wore a preppy-looking, powder-blue V-neck sweater, white shirt and black tie as he stood and smiled to the prospective jurors.

In one of more than two dozen questions probing bias, hardship and general biographical facts, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan asked the prospects - a diverse mix of homemakers, lawyers, secretaries, letter carriers, looking-for-work and musicians - if any of them knew Ghailani.

No one did.

Ghailani is charged with helping supply the explosives used in the al-Qaida plot to blow up U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya, which killed 224 people - including 12 Americans. His defense is expected to be that he was a dupe and didn't know he was part of a terror plot.

Kaplan has told the prospective jurors - whose identities are being kept secret - that the trial could last 16 weeks.

Hundreds of jurors filled out written questionnaires last week covering matters ranging from their feelings about the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks to their views of informants and terrorism enforcement. Those not excused Wednesday will appear on Monday, when lawyers will pick the final jurors and begin opening statements.

In the first embassy bombing trial in federal court in Manhattan in 2001, four other men were convicted in the conspiracy. Ghailani was not captured until 2004, in Pakistan.

The case is viewed as a crucial test of whether the government can successfully conduct civilian trials of ex-detainees who were subjected to coercive CIA questioning and held for years by the military without access to a judge.Its outcome could affect decisions on how to handle the cases of other accused terrorists, such as that of alleged Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

Kaplan previously has ruled that Ghailani's detention did not violate his right to a speedy trial, and denied a motion to dismiss the case because of harsh methods of interrogation that violated legal norms.

He still is considering barring the government from calling a key witness who sold Ghailani the embassy explosives, because the man's identity was elicited from Ghailani under coercive questioning.