The Pentagon proposed on Monday death penalty for a Saudi man suspected of organizing the October 2000 suicide bombing of the U.S. warship Cole, that killed 17 U.S. sailors.
Abd al Rahim al Nashiri, 43, faces charges of conspiracy, murder and other law of war violations, according to a newly-released Pentagon memo.
The Pentagon said it wants to try him by military commission at the U.S. Naval base Guantanamo, Cuba, and execute him if convicted.
Nashiri is accused of testing explosives and equipping what looked like a small civilian garbage barge with bombs.
The barge, piloted by two al Qaida bombers who died in the explosion, pulled up next to U.S. destroyer Cole on Oct. 12, 2000 off the coast of Yemen.
Seventeen U.S. sailors were killed in the attack.
Nashiri was transferred from a secret CIA prison to Guantanamo in September 2006 and was described as an "al Qaida operations chief in the Arabian Peninsula."
The Saudi becomes the 20th Guantanamo detainee facing war crimes charges and the 7th facing possible execution if convicted.
Source:Xinhua
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