Guantanamo, Continued

The first civil trial against a Guantanamo detainee has thwarted the plans of President Obama to have other detainees in this prison judged through the ordinary justice system. It also presents an obstacle to the long announced, but never implemented, closure of this ignominious prison.

Tanzanian Ahmed Ghailani was accused of 285 charges. The verdict pronounced by the twelve people on the jury cleared him of all charges, including that of terrorism, except for one: the charge of conspiracy to destroy United States property and real estate.

For this crime, Ghailani will be condemned to a sentence that could range between 25 years and life imprisonment. In accordance with the constitution and the law, the court dismissed most of the evidence against him due to suspicion that it was obtained under torture.

In spite of the sentence, the verdict has infuriated the Republicans, encouraged after the recent electoral victory. Believing that a military court in the territorial limbo of Guantanamo would have condemned him on the grounds of terrorism, they will put up a fight to prevent further civil judgments.

The U.S. military base in Cuba, converted into a penitentiary for Al Qaeda prisoners, and the clandestine detention centers of the CIA symbolize the opprobrium of the Bush administration, which violated the fundamental principles of justice. Obama thought that he could close the prison within a year. Almost two years have passed since he moved into the White House, and as an embarrassment to the justice system, no closure is in sight, while the Republicans remain determined to disregard the law.