Terror Suspect Turned Over To U.S. Authorities, Sent To Guantanamo Bay

Monday, March 26th 2007, 3:12 pm

By: News On 6

WASHINGTON (AP) -- An alleged al-Qaida terrorist accused in the deadly 2002 bombing of a hotel in Kenya has been transferred to U.S. custody and sent to the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Pentagon officials said Monday.

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman identified the suspect as Abdul
Malik.

He is the first terror suspect to be transferred to Guantanamo Bay since September 2004. Whitman said Malik would undergo a military hearing to determine whether he is to be classified as an "enemy combatant."

Whitman declined to provide details such as Malik's nationality or how he came into U.S. custody. He called Malik a "dangerous terrorist suspect."

A senior defense official, who discussed the matter on condition of anonymity because of its sensitivities, said Malik was given to U.S. authorities by Kenya in the past few weeks. He arrived at Guantanamo Bay last weekend.

The senior official said Malik was not held as a "high value detainee" in the CIA's secret overseas prison system. Fourteen such detainees were transferred from the CIA prison system to Guantanamo Bay last fall.