NY judge seeks testimony from bombing defendant who boycotted court because of strip searches

NY judge wants to hear from ex-Guantanamo detainee

NEW YORK — A judge has ordered the only Guantanamo Bay detainee to be prosecuted in U.S. civilian courts to appear before him Thursday after he repeatedly skipped court appearances, contending mandatory strip searches ignite painful memories of his interrogation overseas.

U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan said in an order signed Tuesday and made public Wednesday that he wants Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani to have a chance to testify before he rules on a defense request to force the Bureau of Prisons to change its strip search procedures for him. Currently, all jailed defendants must be strip-searched before entering the court.

The lawyers cited the conclusions of a defense psychologist who said Ghailani suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder and nudity causes him to recall painful memories of his interrogation process in a secret CIA-run camp abroad after his July 2004 arrest.

Ghailani arrived in New York from the U.S. detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, last summer. He is charged in the August 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa. The bombings killed 225 people, including a dozen Americans.

Ghailani, who has pleaded not guilty, has denied knowing that the TNT and oxygen tanks he delivered would be used to make a bomb. He also has denied buying a vehicle used in one of the attacks, saying he could not drive.

A defense lawyer has said Ghailani was subjected to enhanced interrogation for 14 hours over five days.

Before scaling back its enhanced interrogation program, the CIA used 10 harsh methods, including waterboarding, a form of simulated drowning.

Ghailani has been described by authorities as a bomb maker, document forger and aide to Osama bin Laden, who also is indicted in the embassy bombings case.

Defense lawyers for Ghailani on April 2 asked the judge to protect their client from strip searches that include a visual inspection of his rectal area.

The judge scheduled a hearing on the request for Thursday. He directed that Ghailani be taken to the hearing so that he could hear anything he had to say regarding the strip searches and whether he wanted to attend future court proceedings. He said Ghailani will not be required to speak.

Ghailani is scheduled to go to trial on Sept. 27. The judge cited a defense request for a nine-month delay in the trial as he questioned whether Ghailani might be offering unfounded or exaggerated claims to try to manipulate the court and the Bureau of Prisons to alter security measures.

Defense lawyers have said in court papers that Ghailani decided to no longer go to court after he underwent a strip search in November and vowed that he would “not be humiliated in this manner again.”

Ghailani lawyer Steve Zissou said the defense team’s motion “is not a delaying tactic.”

Federal prosecutors’ spokeswoman Yusill Scribner declined to comment.