[JURIST] The US Department of Defense Friday announced the referral of nine terrorism-related charges [press release] against Guantanamo Bay detainee Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani [BBC profile], who is accused of involvement in the 1998 US embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania [US DOS Backgrounder]. Ghailani, who was transferred to detention facilities at Guantanamo from secret CIA detention in 2006, is charged with murder in violation of the laws of war, murder of protected persons, attacking civilians, attacking civilian objects, intentionally causing serious bodily injury, destruction of property in violation of the laws of war and terrorism, conspiracy to commit the above offenses, and providing material support to terrorism. Military prosecutors had sought the capital punishment for Ghailani, but Pentagon convening authority Susan Crawford decided that the case will be non-capital. Military prosecutors forwarded the charges [JURIST report] to the convening authority in March. The Washington Post has more.

Pakistani authorities arrested Ghailani [JURIST report] in July 2004. Ghailani was designated as an "enemy combatant" [press release; JURIST report] in August 2007 based on the recommendations of a Combatant Status Review Tribunal (CSRT) [DOD materials].