Terror Suspect To Appear In Guantanamo Courtroom
A terror suspect will emerge from the shadows this week after nine years of detention, when he’s led into a military courtroom at the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri was captured in 2002 and has remained virtually invisible since then, detained first overseas in secret facilities and then at Guantanamo.
The United States claims he is the brains behind the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole, which killed 17 U.S. Navy sailors, wounded dozens more and left the warship crippled in the harbor of Aden, Yemen.
The officer in charge of the ship at the time, Cmdr. Kirk Lippold says this court appearance is long overdue. “The crew and families have been patient for 11 years,” Lippold, now retired from the Navy, told CNN Monday. “It is time for justice to be served.”
The arraignment Wednesday morning is expected to last only an hour or so, with al-Nashiri’s formal military trial still months away. But this potentially could be the first death-penalty case in the military commission system if he is found guilty.