The Hill News

A federal judge on Tuesday sentenced Ahmed Ghailani to life in prison for his role in the 1998 bombing of two U.S. embassies in Africa. 

Ghailani, 36, was the first Guantanamo Bay detainee to receive a civilian trial. He was convicted late last year of one charge for conspiring to destroy government buildings. In addition to his role in the bombings, he served as a bodyguard for al-Qaeda chief Osama bin-Laden.

{mosads}"Today’s sentencing of Ahmed Ghailani shows yet again the strength of the American justice system in holding terrorists accountable for their actions," said Attorney General Eric Holder. "Ghailani will now rightly serve the rest of his life in prison for his role in the attacks against American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that left 224 dead, including 12 Americans."

! Republicans on Capitol Hill strongly protested the verdict when it was handed down last November, calling it a near acquittal.

Then-House Homeland Security Committee Ranking Member Pete King (R-N.Y.) said he was "disgusted" at the ruling because more than 280 other criminal counts against Ghailani were dismissed.

"Where Attorney General Eric Holder assured us that ‘failure is not an option,’ the jury found him guilty on only one count and acquitted him of all other counts, including every murder charge," King said in a Nov. 17, 2010 statement. 

The Ghailani case was closely watched as a model for future civilian trials of terror suspects, but the Obama administration has made little progress on that front.

President Obama has said he supports both civilian trials and military commission trials for terror suspects, but more than two years into his presidency, he has not been able to reach an agreement with Congress to transf! er suspects away from Guantanamo Bay and into the courts.