Former Guantanamo detainee gets life sentence

    NEW YORK, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- A federal judge on Tuesday sentenced the first Guantanamo Bay detainee to be tried in a civilian¹ court to life in prison for his role in the 1998 embassy bombings in Africa.
    The 36-year-old Ahmed Ghailani was convicted(定罪) on Nov. 17 of a single count of conspiracy² to destroy government buildings and property.
    Judge Lewis A. Kaplan of United States District Court delivered the maximum sentence: life with no parole. And he rejected the defense's request that Ghailani should have received a lesser³ sentence.
    Ahmed Ghailani, a Tanzanian accused of a key role in the killing⁴ of 224 people during the bombings against two U.S. embassies in Africa in 1998, is the first former Guantanamo Bay detainee（未判决囚犯） to be tried on terror charges in civilian court.
    Ghailani was listed on the FBI Most Wanted Terrorists list from the time it was created in 2001 until he was captured in Pakistan in 2004.
    He was taken to the Guantanamo Bay detention⁵ facilities in Cuba in 2006, where he remained until the Obama administration transferred him on June 9, 2009 to the New York federal court to stand trial for his alleged⁶ role in the embassy bombing.
    The Ghailani case was considered a test for the Obama administration, which had maintained that terrorists like Ghailani can safely be tried, convicted and sentenced in U.S. civilian courts.
    U.S. President Barack Obama vowed⁷ to close Guantanamo Bay within a year when he took office in January 2009. But the prison is still open after two years.（本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑）

1 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

2 conspiracy   

n.阴谋，密谋，共谋

参考例句：

• The men were found guilty of conspiracy to murder.这些人被裁决犯有阴谋杀人罪。
• He claimed that it was all a conspiracy against him.他声称这一切都是一场针对他的阴谋。

3 lesser   

adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地

参考例句：

• Kept some of the lesser players out.不让那些次要的球员参加联赛。
• She has also been affected,but to a lesser degree.她也受到波及，但程度较轻。

4 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

5 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

6 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

7 vowed   

起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He vowed quite solemnly that he would carry out his promise. 他非常庄严地发誓要实现他的诺言。
• I vowed to do more of the cooking myself. 我发誓自己要多动手做饭。