"Abebe was identified and located as a close and direct result of statements made by Ghailani while he was held by the CIA. The government has elected not to litigate the details of Ghailani's treatment while in CIA custody. It has sought to make this unnecessary by asking the court to assume in deciding this motion that everything Ghailani said while in CIA custody was coerced."

...The government has failed to prove that Abebe's testimony is sufficiently attenuated from Ghailani's coerced statements to permit its receipt in evidence," Kaplan wrote.

Even if acquitted, it's likely Ghailani would continue to be held in indefinite detention for the duration of "hostilities" between the U.S., al Qaeda and the Taliban...in other words, a life sentence.

Human Rights First praises the decision. Daphne Eviatar says:

The issue here is not that the testimony has been barred, but that the defendant was tortured. The fact that Judge Lewis recognizes that evidence derived through torture is inadmissible only strengthens the view that civilian federal courts, not military commissions, can best handle difficult terrorism cases.

Just yesterday, a federal court sentenced the Times Square bomber to life in prison. Let's be clear – the barred testimony in the Ghailani case is not the only evidence that the government will present in this case. The government convicted four of Ghailani's alleged co-conspirators in the same federal court, without the testimony of this particular witness. Judge Lewis' decision is significant, though, because it clearly signals that the court will not countenance evidence derived from torture."

The Government decided in 2009 not to seek the death penalty for Ghailani. Our prior coverage of the case is assembled here.