Ghassan Abdullah al Sharbi
Nationality: SaudiGhassan Abdullah al Sharbi is a 33-year old Saudi with an electrical engineering degree from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Arizona.
Al Sharbi is charged with conspiracy to commit terrorism and providing material support for terrorism. Specifically, the government alleges that after receiving his university degree he left Saudi Arabia for Afghanistan to receive arms training at an al Qaeda training camp.
After September 11, 2001, the government claims al Sharbi moved to Pakistan, where he received additional training on how to build circuit boards to set off remote-control bombs in Afghanistan. He was arrested on March 28, 2002, along with several other suspects, when US and Pakistani forces raided a house in Faisalabad, Pakistan. If convicted, he faces life imprisonment.
This is the second time that the US has tried to put al Sharbi on trial. He was initially charged with conspiracy before the military commissions on November 7, 2005, but those charges were thrown out in June 2006 when the US Supreme Court ruled that the military commissions were unlawful. In September 2006, Congress passed the Military Commissions Act, authorizing the new set of military commissions. The Convening Authority of the military commissions must approve the charges before al Sharbi is formally charged.
Military Commissions Documents: