South African Court Rules Extradition of Mohamed to U.S. on Embassy Bombings Illegal

On May 28, 2001, the South African Constitutional Court ruled that the handing over of Khalfan Khamis Mohamed, a Tanzanian national, to the U.S. in the bombing of two U.S. embassies in Africa was illegal because of the potential that he will receive the death penalty. Mr. Mohamed is a Tanzanian who was convicted of participating in the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam in 1998. The FBI tracked him to Cape Town where he lived under an assumed name and with a false passport. At the request of the FBI, South African immigration authorities arrested Mr. Mohamed and interrogated him. They deported him as an illegal immigrant, handing him over to the FBI for removal to the U.S. for trial…[more]