The trial of Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani has attracted intense interest as a test of the Obama administration's strategy to try Guantanamo detainees in civilian court. But few have as much personal connection to the case than the group of onlookers who fill several rows of the Manhattan courtroom. Some are family members of those who died in al-Qaida's 1998 bombings of the U.S. Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; others worked in the embassy at the time. And although a dozen years have passed since the attacks, which killed 224 people -- including 12 Americans in the Nairobi bombing -- and wounded thousands, one spectator made clear that she would not have missed this trial. 'I felt that it was an obligation to come,' said Sue Bartley, 63, who has traveled from the Washington suburbs each week to attend the trial since it began last month. Bartley lost two family members in the Nairobi bombing: her husband, Julian L. Bartley Sr., who was the consul general; and her son, Julian L. Bartley Jr., who was a college student working as an intern at the embassy. For family members who attended both the 2001 trial and this one, there are stark differences. For one, at the time of the first trial, the 9/11 attacks were still months away. Edith Bartley, who has become an advocate and spokeswoman for the families of the Americans killed in the Nairobi bombing, said those families, represented by the law firm Crowell & Moring, have pushed for years to receive compensation like that provided to the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks. But despite bipartisan support, she said, they have been unsuccessful. Most recently, said one of their lawyers, Florence W. Prioleau, a bill pending in the House of Representatives would provide a total of about $11 million for the families, and the hope is that such compensation will be part of a final bill. The long debate about where to try terrorist detainees, in which President Obama has said his goal is to use federal courts whenever feasible, has not escaped the family members observing Mr. Ghailani's trial. Some of the family members attending the trial said they had been asked by prosecutors for their views on whether the government should seek the death penalty after Ghailani was moved into civilian court. Their opinions varied: Two said they strongly supported it; another opposed it; and another had no strong opinion. (Ultimately, capital punishment was not sought.) 