Citing long wait for a trial, first Guantanamo detainee seeks dismissal of charges

Detainee seeks indictment dismissal after delays

NEW YORK — A Guantanamo detainee has asked that charges be dismissed in the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa, citing a long wait for trial.

Lawyers for Ahmed Ghailani (guh-LAH’-nee) said their client’s case raised the question of whether national security can trump an indicted defendant’s constitutional right to a speedy trial. Papers filed in federal court in Manhattan seeking to have the indictment dismissed were released Tuesday.

Authorities allege Ghailani was a bomb-maker, document forger and aide to Osama bin Laden. The attacks at embassies in Tanzania and Kenya killed 224 people, including 12 Americans.

Ghailani was brought to the United States earlier this year. The Tanzanian, captured in Pakistan in 2004, was held in Guantanamo since 2006.

(This version CORRECTS that papers seeeking dismissal were released Tuesday, instead of filed Tuesday.)