US embassy blast suspect freed

2004-12-22 14:56

Dar Es Salaam - A High Court judge on Thursday found a Tanzanian businessman innocent of conspiracy to commit murder in the 1998 bombing of the US Embassy in the East African nation.

Judge Emilian Mushi ordered the immediate release of Rashid Saleh Hemed, 34, who was charged in connection with the terror attack that killed 12 people and was blamed on Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.

"You cannot convict someone with doubtful evidence," Mushi told the court after declaring that prosecutors failed to prove beyond doubt that Hemed was involved in the conspiracy to bomb the embassy.

Prosecutors privately said that they would not appeal the ruling.

"I am not surprised with the judgment because I knew I was not guilty right from the beginning," Hemed said while walking out of the court.

Hemed was the first person charged in connection with the near simultaneous terrorist attacks in Tanzania and neighbouring Kenya. His trial began in 2000.

Initially charged with 11 counts

He was initially charged with 11 counts of murder in September 1998, but the charges were later reduced to conspiracy to commit murder. One person died from injuries after the charges were brought.

In February, three court assessors declared Hemed innocent, but under Tanzanian law, the presiding judge makes the final ruling.

Hemed, who deals in spare car parts, pleaded innocent to the charges over the August 7 1998 attack.

In a nearly simultaneous blast in neighbouring Kenya, a bomb ripped through the US Embassy in Nairobi, killing 219 people, including 12 Americans.

The prosecution called 18 witnesses during the trial, including three FBI agents who testified last month that on Hemed's clothes they found traces of bomb-making chemicals similar to those used in the embassy bombing.

But defence attorneys argued that Hemed's clothes were mixed with those belonging to other people, including those belonging to Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a Tanzanian captured in Pakistan on July 25 with 13 other foreigners after a shootout in the eastern city of Gujrat.

The FBI agents conceded that the traces of chemicals found in Hemed's clothing were not in sufficient quantities to prove that he was involved in bomb-making, Mushi said.

Prosecutors also failed to prove that Hemed was aware of the existence of a bomb detonator that was found in home, Mushi said.

Ghailani was also indicted by a New York court in December 1998 for his role in the attack.

The defence said the links between Hemed and Ghailani were just work-related. But the prosecution argued that Ghailani was a regular visitor to Hemed's house, where items including a bomb detonator were found.

In 2001, four men were convicted in New York of conspiracy to carry out the bombings and sentenced to life in prison.

- AP