The rights of a Guantanamo detainee facing trial in the deadly 1998 bombings of US embassies in Africa were not violated when the military took away his uniformed lawyers, a judge ruled on Wednesday.
Ahmed Ghailani has no right to keep a pair of lawyers who represented him when their superior officers have decided they are needed elsewhere, US District Judge Lewis Kaplan said.
“He is entitled to, and is receiving, representation of appointed counsel at public expense,” Kaplan said. “He is not entitled to choose particular government-paid counsel — military or civilian.”
The ruling affects Marine Colonel Jeffrey Colwell and Air Force Major Richard Reiter, who had represented Ghailani in Guantanamo since summer last year.
Ghailani and both officers had requested that they be permitted to continue representing him. The military gave the officers permission to remain involved with the defense during a transition period.
Ghailani was the first Guantanamo detainee to be taken to a US civilian court for trial when he was brought to Manhattan in June to face charges in the 1998 attacks at embassies in Tanzania and Kenya.
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