Some press reports ( including the left-leaning '' New Republic '' ) questioned whether the timing of the announcement of Ghailani 's capture was politically motivated . The announcement was made just hours before U.S. Presidential candidate John Kerry was due to make his acceptance speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention , an event at which a candidate usually receives a significant boost in the polls . Hayyat made the announcement after midnight local time , despite having apparently known Ghailiani 's identity for some days beforehand . Pakistani officials denied there was any such motivation . Soon after the capture of Ghailani and the others with him , '' The Boston Globe '' , quoting a United Nations source , said that Ghailani was one of several al-Qaeda personnel who had been in Liberia around 2001 , handling conflict diamonds under the protection of then-dictator Charles Taylor
2004 Democratic National Convention
2004 Democratic National Convention
Ahmed Ghailani