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USS Cole suspect to face Guantanamo tribunal
Sep 28, 2011, 22:38 GMT
Washington - The chief suspect in the October 2000 attack on a US naval ship in the Gulf of Oman will face a military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the Pentagon said.
The Defence Department referred charges against Abd al-Rahim al- Nashiri to a military commission on Wednesday and he will be arraigned within 30 days.
US military prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against the Saudi in connection with the bombing of the USS Cole, which left 17 sailors dead. The attack blasted a massive hold in the destroyer's hull.
The Pentagon alleges that al-Nashiri was also behind an attempted attack on USS The Sullivans in the Port of Aden in January 2000 and the attack on the French civilian oil tanker MV Limburg in the Gulf of Aden in October 2002 that left one person dead.
Al-Nashiri faces a range of charges that include murder and attempted murder in violation of the law of war, terrorism and conspiracy to commit terrorism and other offenses.
It is the first new case brought before the military tribunals since President Barack Obama in March ordered the resumption of the hotly debated process for trying some terror suspects held at Guantananmo.
Obama has been trying to push forward with the prosecution of suspects as part of his plan to close the prison facility at the US naval installation on Cuba.
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