WASHINGTON (AFP) – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Sunday renewed her backing to try "war on terror" suspects in civilian courts, but refused to be drawn on the fate of the alleged September 11 mastermind.
The Obama administration was dealt a severe blow last week when a New York jury cleared Tanzanian Ahmed Ghailani of all but one of 286 charges brought against him for the 1998 embassy bombings in Africa.
Ghailani, 36, the first ex-Guantanamo Bay inmate to be tried in a civilian court, will still serve at least 20 years in jail and could be sentenced to life imprisonment, after being found guilty of conspiracy against US property.
But the case thrust into the spotlight the difficulties of trying Guantanamo Bay inmates in civilian courts, amid concerns that evidence against them is tainted or extracted under duress during secret CIA renditions.
Clinton told CBS the US administration did not need to rethink the strategy of trying to bring terror suspects into the civilian courts.
"The terrorists who are serving time in our maximum security prisons are there because civilian courts... have a much better record of trying and convicting terrorists than military commissions do," she said.
"And in fact this defendant having been convicted will be sentenced somewhere between 20 years and life."
A sentence of between 20 years and life is a just sentence for being the mastermind of an act of terror that killed more than 200 people?
Are you fucking stupid?
And let's not forget that because he was tried in a civilian court he'll also be eligible for parole in a few years.
