15 Facts About Ahmed Ghailani

Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani is a Tanzanian conspirator of the al-Qaeda terrorist organization convicted for his role in the bombing of embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

Ahmed Ghailani was indicted in the United States as a participant in the 1998 US embassy bombings.

Ahmed Ghailani was on the FBI Most Wanted Terrorists list from its inception in October 2001.

Ahmed Ghailani was transported from Guantanamo Bay to New York City to await trial in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in June 2009.

Ahmed Ghailani was born in 1974 in Zanzibar, Tanzania and is a Tanzanian citizen.

Ahmed Ghailani speaks Swahili and had served as a tabligh, a Muslim traveling preacher.

Ahmed Ghailani was in Nairobi, Kenya by August 6,1998, where he is thought to have rented a room at the Hilltop Hotel used for meetings by the bombers and flew to Karachi on a Kenya Airways flight before the bombs exploded.

On May 26,2004, United States Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller announced that reports indicated that Ahmed Ghailani was one of seven al-Qaeda members who were planning a terrorist action for the summer or fall of 2004.

Ahmed Ghailani's arrest was made by the Intelligence Bureau Pakistan in a raid with police commandos.

Some press reports questioned whether the timing of the announcement of Ahmed Ghailani's capture was politically motivated.

In June 2009, Ahmed Ghailani was transferred to New York to face trial in a federal court.

Ahmed Ghailani learned that being transferred from military to civilian jurisdiction meant that he could no longer be assisted by Colonel Jeffrey Colwell and Major Richard Reiter.

Steve Zissou, one of Ahmed Ghailani's lawyers, commented that the government's decision not to appeal was "a significant victory for the Constitution".

On November 17,2010, Ahmed Ghailani was convicted of conspiracy, but acquitted of all the other charges.

On January 25,2011, Ahmed Ghailani was sentenced to life in prison.