A New York lawyer has argued in court that charges be dismissed against Tanzanian national and alleged Al Qaeda terrorist Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani because he was tortured by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and denied a trial for so long.
Attorney Peter Enrique Quijano told Manhattan Federal Judge Lewis Kaplan last week that the right to a speedy trial means charges should be dismissed against his client Ghailani.
Judge Kaplan did not immediately give a ruling.
According to Quijano, Ghailani was repeatedly tortured at the notorious Guantanamo Bay prison facility, and denied trial for four years.
Ghailani is accused of participation in deadly bombings at US embassies in Dar es Salaam and Kenya in 1998. US prosecutors say the delay in bringing him to trial was to gain information to save lives.
Quijano argued that the US government ignored the constitutional requirement for a speedy trial when it held Ghailani for 24 months at CIA black sites, and for an additional 33 months at Guantanamo Bay, before moving him to Manhattan, New York last year as the first Guantanamo prisoner prosecuted in a civilian US court.
"You cannot care about the (US) constitution - not even in the holy name of national security," Quijano told the court.
He argued that the only remedy is to dismiss the charges that Ghailani helped bomb the two US embassies in simultaneous attacks that killed 224 people, including 12 Americans.
Quijano said whatever military value the US government got from the accused Al Qaeda operative, it got fast. Ghailani gushed information after "14 hours over five days" of "enhanced interrogation methods," the lawyer added.
Prosecutor Michael Farbiarz argued that the case law was full of instances where trials were delayed for longer periods for lower stakes, and that for the judge to dismiss charges against an Al Qaeda soldier was ludicrous.
In oral arguments before Judge Kaplan, lawyers for Ghailani said the "political decision" to put off a trial while he was interrogated should not mean he gives up his rights under the US constitution.
The government "clearly chose to ignore his constitutional rights, and instead chose to transform him from an accused defendant to an intelligence asset - and relegated him to a modern-day gulag," said Quijano.
But prosecuting US assistant attorney Farbiarz said the burden of proof for the case to be thrown out lies with the defence, and Ghailani had failed to demand a speedy trial while held at Guantanamo Bay.
"The government is not trying to gain an advantage over the defendant at trial," but to "incapacitate others" and pursue "third parties," said Farbiarz.
"I think everybody can agree that whatever I do here would be unprecedented," Judge Kaplan responded, alluding to the importance of the proceeding, which coincided with the anniversary of the first group of 20 detainees being brought to Guantanamo Bay's Camp X-Ray in 2002.
Lawyers were barred from discussing Ghailani's interrogations. But at one point, Quijano said "enhanced interrogation techniques" were used on Ghailani during a five-day period. That term is commonly used to describe simulated drowning and other methods of torture.
Farbiarz then approached Quijano, who indicated he would not say any more on the subject.
The case is seen as a test for US President Barack Obama's plans to close down the Guantanamo Bay prison for foreign terrorism suspects.
The Manhattan Federal Court in New York has heard several other major terrorism cases, including that of Omar Abdel-Rahman who was convicted in 1995 for conspiring to blow up New York City landmarks.