Guantanamo Detainee Pleads Guilty to 2002 French Oil Tanker Attack
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iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) — A man pleaded guilty at a Guantanamo military commission Thursday for his role in an attack on a French oil tanker, the MV Limburg, off of Yemen in 2002.
Under the deal, Ahmed al Darbi faces between nine and 15 years in prison, though he won’t actually be sentenced for another three and a half years. After he’s sentenced it’s possible he could serve out the remainder of his prison time in Saudi Arabia.
In Court documents al Darbi agrees to the extended time until sentencing “to allow me to cooperate with the government,” presumably against al Nashiri who plotted the attacks on the French oil tanker and the USS Cole.
Al Darbi didn’t actually take part in the 2002 attack as he was already a Guantanamo detainee by that time, but military prosecutors said he was crucial to the planning of the attack. Statements released Thursday indicate the initial plan was to attack an oil freighter in the Strait of Hormuz, but al Darbi didn’t go through with it even though he’d already purchased a large boat that was to be used for the attack. Instead he used leftover funds to purchase the small boat that was used in the attack against the French freighter and helped the attackers in getting visas to Yemen.
A crewman was killed and dozens of others were wounded in the attack.
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