The start of Ghailani's trial was postponed last week when Judge Lewis Kaplan barred key US government witness [JURIST report] Hussein Abebe from testifying because his testimony was the product of statements made by Ghailani to the Central Intelligence Agency under duress. Ghailani's defense filed a motion to dismiss over the summer, saying he would not get a fair trial, but the court denied the motion [text, PDF; JURIST report] because "the government is entitled to attempt to hold Ghailani accountable in a court of law for his alleged complicity in the murder of 224 people and the injury of more than 1,000 others." US President Barack Obama [official profile] said last year in a speech on national security [JURIST report] that preventing Ghailani from coming to the US would prevent justice from being served. The announcement [JURIST report] that Ghailani would be tried in federal court came in May 2009 following the ordered review of all Guantanamo detainees pursuant to plans to close the detention facility [JURIST news archive].