The first civilian trial of a former Guantanamo Bay detainee is set to begin in a New York courtroom on Wednesday.
Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a Tanzanian, is accused of helping al-Qaeda kill 224 people in the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya.
Mr Ghailani was held in Pakistan in 2004 and taken to Guantanamo in 2006. His lawyers say he was tortured.
The case is seen as a test of the Obama administration's pledge to close the US military base in Cuba by next January.
Whereas other detainees have been tried by military commissions, Mr Ghailani is the first Guantanamo prisoner to be tried in the civilian courts.
The BBC's Laura Trevelyan, in New York, says that if this trial is successful, it will make it easier for the Obama administration to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks.
Mr Ghailani, who is believed to be in his mid 30s, is accused of having purchased the vehicle and explosives used in the attack in Tanzania and as having served as an aide to Osama Bin Laden.
"Ghailani is one of the lucky ones who will be given a real trial in front of a real judge," said George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley was quoted by the AFP news agency as saying.
He added: "The [Obama] administration seems to be suggesting that they are willing to give this a try and if successful, they might allow it for trial of other people".
BBC News
