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US seeks extradition of `embassy bombers'

"[US officials] seem to think they can push their way into this and do what they want."

Winston Ngaira, defense lawyer

US officials are preparing to seek the extradition of two men accused of involvement in the 1998 bombing of the US embassy and a 2003 plot to blow up the new US embassy, a lawyer for one of the suspects said Wednesday.

Defense lawyer Winston Ngaira said officials from the US embassy in Kenya and the Attorney General's office told him that the US plans to seek the extradition of his client, Mohammed Ali Saleh Nabhan, and one other suspect currently on trial on charges related to the alleged 2003 bombing plot and the bombing of a tourist hotel in 2002.

Kenyan officials declined to comment on the case. In Washington, US Justice Department officials also declined to comment on the report.

US authorities can seek extradition only after a suspect has been indicted in the US. Nabhan's name does not appear in the US court system's electronic index, although indictments can be filed under seal and made public at a later date.

Ngaira refused to name the officials and said he did not know the name of the second suspect being sought. Fifteen people are on trial in connection with the attack on the beach-front hotel on the Indian Ocean coast.

Ngaira said he expected that the extradition would be related to the alleged 2003 plot to destroy the newly built US Embassy with an explosives-laden aircraft and a truck bomb.

"They have some alleged e-mails and some telephone records in connection with that," Ngaira said.

Ngaira said he would fight any attempt to extradite his client due to lack of evidence, and said he was worried about whether justice was possible if US officials put political pressure on the Kenyan government.

"They seem to think they can push their way into this and do what they want," he said.

The al-Qaeda network has twice claimed responsibility for attacks in Kenya -- the August 1998 bombing of the US Embassy in Nairobi, which killed 219 people, and the November 2002 bombing of a beachfront hotel near Mombasa, which killed 15 people.

Operatives allegedly belonging to al-Qaeda planned to destroy the US Embassy in Nairobi again in June 2003 with a truck bomb and a hijacked plane loaded with explosives, according to a Kenya police report seen by reporters in 2003.

The hotel attack was carried out simultaneously with a failed attempt to shoot down an Israeli airliner at Mombasa's airport.

Kenyan police began arresting suspects in mid-2003, eventually arresting 15 people and starting two trials, one for suspects accused of murder, and another for those accused of conspiracy.

Observers have remarked on how poorly the trials have proceeded, and they have often been delayed for months at a time. Key witnesses have failed to show up to testify.

Mohammed Ali Saleh Nabhan pleaded innocent at a hearing in Nairobi's High Court in November 2003 when he was initially charged in the hotel bombing. At the time, prosecutor John Gacivih said there was "a lot of evidence" against Nabhan, the younger brother of suspected bomb builder Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, who remains at large.
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