Warning: Undefined array key "rbname" in /data/rantburg.com/www/pgrecentorg.php on line 14
Hello !
Recent Appearances... Rantburg
Ramzi Binalshibh Ramzi Binalshibh al-Qaeda in Europe Europe Arrested 20030813  
  Ramzi Binalshibh al-Qaeda Afghanistan Yemeni In Jug Key Aide™ 20030909  
    captured in Pakistan in 2002

Home Front: WoT
9/11 detainee ruled mentally unfit for trial after torture at Guantanamo
2023-09-23
[IsraelTimes] Military judge says Ramzi bin al-Shibh, diagnosed with mental illnesses, is unable to defend himself; trial of alleged criminal mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, three others to go ahead
Nothing a good trepanning with a cordless drill wouldn't help
A judge at the US military tribunal in Guantanamo Bay on Thursday ruled that a Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of...
i detainee who was tortured by the CIA is unfit to stand trial in a death penalty
 case, US media reported.

Ramzi bin al-Shibh,
...also Ramzi Binalshibh, the unhandsome Yemeni fixer accused of finding flight schools for the hijackers, helping them enter the United States, and assisting with financing the operation. He allegedly was selected to be a hijacker and made a "martyr video" in preparation for the operation, but was unable to get a U.S. visa. He also is believed to be a lead operative for a foiled plot to crash aircraft into London's Heathrow Airport...
51, had been scheduled to be one of five defendants in a trial related to the September 11, 2001, attacks on US cities by Al Qaeda that left almost 3,000 people dead.

But Colonel Matthew McCall, a military judge, said the prisoner was too psychologically damaged to help defend himself, The New York Times

...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize...
 reported.

Doctors at the US base on the eastern tip of Cuba diagnosed Bin al-Shibh with post-traumatic stress disorder and secondary psychotic features, as well as a delusional disorder.

The military psychiatrists said his condition left him "unable to understand the nature of the proceedings against him or cooperate intelligently" with his legal defense team, the Times reported.

Bin al-Shibh has for years complained of being "tormented by invisible forces that caused his bed and cell to vibrate and that stung his genitals, depriving him of sleep," the paper added.
Quit putting quarters into the vibrator bed, idiot
Bin al-Shibh’s defense lawyer has claimed that his client was tortured by the CIA and went insane as a result of what the agency called enhanced interrogation techniques, which included sleep deprivation, waterboarding, and beatings.

He had been due to face pretrial proceedings on Friday with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, believed to be the criminal mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, and three other defendants. Their hearing will proceed as scheduled, the paper said.

Bin al-Shibh was accused of helping organize the Al Qaeda cell in Hamburg, Germany, that hijacked one of two passenger jets that crashed into the World Trade Center in New York.

Another suicide airliner attack targeted the Pentagon in Washington, and a fourth plane crashed in rural Pennsylvania when passengers overpowered the hijackers.
Related:
Ramzi bin al-Shibh: 2020-10-21 Did the U.S. Government Hide bin Laden In Iran? Alleged Whistleblower Releases Evidence to Make His Claim
Ramzi bin al-Shibh: 2019-09-01 Death penalty trial date for men accused of planning 9/11 is finally set
Ramzi bin al-Shibh: 2016-05-30 Pakistan says DNA report confirms Mullah Mansoor’s death
Related:
Ramzi Binalshibh: 2022-09-12 'They don't want closure, they want justice!' Fury from 9/11 families as it's revealed five Guantanamo Bay prisoners accused of planning terror attack are negotiating for PLEA DEALS that would take death penalty off table
Ramzi Binalshibh: 2019-09-01 Death penalty trial date for men accused of planning 9/11 is finally set
Ramzi Binalshibh: 2017-05-21 Abu Zubaidah won’t testify
Link


Home Front: WoT
'They don't want closure, they want justice!' Fury from 9/11 families as it's revealed five Guantanamo Bay prisoners accused of planning terror attack are negotiating for PLEA DEALS that would take death penalty off table
2022-09-12
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news]
  • Debra Burlingame, whose brother Charles was the pilot on American Airlines Flight 77 which crashed into the Pentagon that day, is angry about the possibility

  • She says she's not alone: 'The families are outraged. They don't want closure, they want justice'

  • Burlingame says there is no justice for her brother and the families without a death penalty sentence

  • It was first revealed in March that guilty pleas in exchange for a life sentence could finally bring to a close the over two decade-long case

  • The anti-war group 9/11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows , has said that the plea deals are in part a good faith agreement due to CIA torture of the five
It was first revealed in March that guilty pleas in exchange for a life sentence could finally bring to a close the over two decade-long case, the longest ever at the war court.

Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Ramzi Binalshibh, Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi, Walid bin Attash and Ammar al-Baluchi were all expected to face the death penalty if convicted.
Related:
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed: 2022-03-16 Pentagon prosecutors working on deal to SAVE 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and his accomplices from death penalty before his Guantanamo Bay trial
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed: 2013-02-17 After 15 years in solitary, convicted terrorist pleads for contact with others
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed: 2012-05-02 9/11 Mastermind Says He Wants to Die
Link


Home Front: WoT
Death penalty trial date for men accused of planning 9/11 is finally set
2019-09-01
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
mastermind of the 9/11 attacks for Al Qaeda, he is also indicted an outstanding terror indictment for the unsuccessful Bojinka plot to simultaneously take down multiple airliners over the Pacific Ocean in the 1990s...
and four other accomplices charged with plotting attacks that killed 2,976 people will be held at Guantanamo Bay in January 2021.
  • Colonel W. Shane Cohen of the Air Force announced on Friday that the trial is set for January 11, 2021

  • The case will take place at Camp Justice at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba

  • Date announcement was included in a 10-page trial scheduling order that also said that prosecutors had until October 1 to get material to defense teams

  • Cohen's announcement marks the first time that a trial judge in the case actually established a date

  • Prosecutors had tried to get the ball rolling with two previous judges after the 2012 arraignment of the five men

  • The other men also charged include: Walid bin Attash,
    ...also Waleed bin Attash, a Yemeni who allegedly ran an al-Qaeda training camp in Logar, Afghanistan, where two of the 19 hijackers were trained. Bin Attash is believed to have been bin Laden's bodyguard. Authorities say bin Laden selected him as a hijacker, but he was prevented from participating when he was briefly detained in Yemen in early 2001...
    Ramzi bin al-Shibh,
    ...also Ramzi Binalshibh, the unhandsome Yemeni who allegedly helped find flight schools for the hijackers, helped them enter the United States, and assisted with financing the operation. He allegedly was selected to be a hijacker and made a "martyr video" in preparation for the operation, but was unable to get a U.S. visa. He also is believed to be a lead operative for a foiled plot to crash aircraft into London's Heathrow Airport.
    Ammar al-Baluchi
    ...born in Pakistan and reared in Kuwait, KSM’s nephew is also known as Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali. He allegedly helped nine of the hijackers travel to the United States and sent them $120,000 for expenses and flight training. He is believed to have served as a key lieutenant to Mohammed in Pakistan...
    and Mustafa al-Hawsawi
    ...also Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi, a Saudi who allegedly helped the hijackers with money, western clothing, traveler's checks and credit cards. Al-Hawsawi testified in the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui, saying he had seen Moussaoui at an al-Qaeda guesthouse in Kandahar, Afghanistan, in early 2001, but somehow was never introduced to him or conducted operations with him...

Related: Delayed by Obama, Trial of 9/11 Plotters Finally Set for 2021
Link


Home Front: WoT
Abu Zubaidah won’t testify
2017-05-21
[DAWN] The first CIA captive, who was locked away
Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un!
 in Pakistain 15 years ago and subjected to harsh interrogation, did not testify on Friday about conditions inside the Guanta­namo Bay detention centre after a late-night discussion with his lawyers, who did not want him to take the stand.

It would have been the first time terror suspect Zayne Abu Zubaydah had spoken publicly since he was captured in 2002. He has never been charged. In August 2003, he was subjected to 83 rounds of waterboarding, an interrogation practice that simulates drowning.

Zubaydah had expressed a desire to be a witness at a court hearing for fellow detainee Ramzi Binalshibh -- also picked up from Pakistain on the first anniversary of 9/11 attacks -- who is one of five Guantanamo prisoners facing trial by a military commission for their alleged roles in planning and providing logistical support for the Sept 11 attacks.

Binalshibh has accused guards of causing noises and vibrations intended to disrupt his sleep and making it difficult for him to participate in his legal case, and his lawyer wanted Zubaydah to testify about how detainees have been treated.

"His attorneys have advised him not to testify," James Harrington, a civilian lawyer appointed to represent Binalshibh, told Army Col James Pohl, the judge presiding over the hearing. "The decision last night ... was not made until the last minute."

Zubaydah, 46, was captured in Faisalabad
...formerly known as Lyallpur, the third largest metropolis in Pakistain, the second largest in Punjab after Lahore. It is named after some Arab because the Paks didn't have anybody notable of their own to name it after...
 in March 2002. When he was captured, authorities suspected he was a high-ranking member of Al Qaeda, though they have more recently described him in official documents as only a "controller" for the terror network. He has been held at Guantanamo since September 2006.

Earlier this month, Zubaydah’s lawyer, Mark Denbeaux, said his client would take the stand "unafraid of the truth that will emerge, confident that the world will come to know that he has committed no crimes".

But in a statement on Friday, he said that government prosecutors made it impossible for his client to testify because what he said could be used against him if he is ever tried.

"The government sought not truth, but stacked the deck in a way that made it impossible for my client to be presented fairly and accurately," Denbeaux’s law firm said in a statement. "For those reasons, we have respectfully abstained from taking part in this dog and pony show."
Link


Home Front: WoT
Abu Zubaydah called as witness in 9/11 case at Guantanamo
2016-05-28
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] A Paleostinian not seen publicly since his 2002 capture by the CIA launched a brutal interrogation program may soon make his first appearance in a U.S. courtroom.

Abu Zubaydah, who CIA agents once sought to be kept incommunicado for the rest of his life, has been called as a witness by Ramzi Binalshibh, one of the defendants in the Sept. 11 war crimes case, to back up allegations of mistreatment inside a high-security unit at Guantanamo Bay.

Abu Zubaydah could testify, along with a prisoner from Somalia who has also never been seen in a public forum, as early as next week in a pretrial hearing at the U.S. base in Cuba.

James Harrington, a lawyer for Binalshibh, said that Abu Zubaydah is expected to support his client's allegations that prisoners inside the unit known as Camp 7 are subjected to noises and vibrations inside their cells intended to keep them awake and disoriented, similar to the sleep deprivation they were subjected to as part of the interrogation program they endured in a network of overseas CIA prisons. The military denies the allegations.

"He's experienced the same kind of thing that Ramzi has with the noises and vibration," Harrington said in an interview Wednesday.
Link


Home Front: WoT
Sept 11 case at Guantanamo hits yet another snag
2016-04-07
This seems odd -- perhaps various parties are working at cross purposes?
[AlAhram] An effort to prosecute five men held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for the Sept. 11 terrorist attack has hit another snag.

A two-week pretrial hearing scheduled to start Tuesday was abruptly canceled late last week by the military judge presiding over the case after he received a confidential notice from Justice Department lawyers.

The document is sealed, its contents not even disclosed to prosecutors or the defense. But there are indications the filing has raised issues that will result in further delays in a case that has been mired in the pretrial stage for years.

"I suspect we are back in this limbo stage and it will take some time to get out," said Jim Harrington, a lawyer for Ramzi Binalshibh, one of the five men facing a tribunal known as a military commission for his alleged role in the Sept. 11, 2001, hijacking plot.

From what little information can be gleaned from the judge's brief cancellation order, the new issue appears to be at least tangentially related to an FBI investigation of a possible security breach involving members of the Binalshibh defense team. The investigation was closed without criminal charges and the judge, Army Col. James Pohl, ultimately decided that it did not create a conflict of interest that required Harrington to step down.

Pohl had directed a special review team of Justice Department lawyers to look into the FBI investigation and any potential conflict. He also told them to notify him of any new investigations. That may have happened Friday, when the judge received the notice that prompted him to cancel the session.

"My best guess, and this is purely speculation, is that there is some new investigation that the special review team is advising the commission of," said James Connell, a lawyer for defendant Ammar al-Baluchi.

A Justice Department front man declined comment Tuesday.

The revelation of the FBI investigation in April 2014 stalled proceedings in the case for 18 months. Though the judge ruled there was no conflict, Harrington said he is still receiving court-ordered information into what he called a "gross violation of the attorney-client privilege" and there may be future revelations that the judge will have to address.

The five defendants, including self-proclaimed criminal mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, face charges that include terrorism and nearly 3,000 counts of murder. They could get the death penalty if convicted.

All five men were held in secret CIA prisons for interrogation before they were brought to Guantanamo in September 2006 for military prosecution. The case has been dogged ever since by legal and political issues as well as the logistics of trying a case at the isolated base in southeastern Cuba. They were arraigned for a second time in May 2012 and more than a dozen pretrial hearings have been held since.

The chief prosecutor, Army Brig. Gen. Mark Martins, is legally barred from any involvement with the work of the special review team and did not predict when the proceedings would resume in a statement on the cancellation of the hearing. He said prosecutors are still working seven days a week to compile classified evidence for the defense by a Sept. 30 deadline.

"We pledge to the families of the 9/11 fallen that the United States will not rest until justice is fully achieved," Martins said.

The next hearing is to start May 30 but the judge said in his order that "further adjusting the schedule" may be necessary.
Link


Home Front: WoT
FBI Has Nearly 1,000 Active Islamic State Probes Inside U.S.
2015-11-15
The Federal Bureau of Investigations has nearly 1,000 active probes connected to the Islamic State terrorist group inside the U.S., law enforcement officials claimed in a letter to President Obama.
This is seriously absurd. If they aren't citizens deport them, if they are, convict them and jail them.
The terrorist probes were revealed in a letter from a group of elected sheriffs in Colorado blasting the president's plan to transfer known terrorists held at the U.S. military prison in Guantanmo Bay, Cuba, to a mainland facility. Two federal prison facilities in Colorado are being considered for the potential transfer.

The sheriff's wrote that the relocation of such dangerous prisoners to a Colorado facility could tempt many of the thousands of Islamic State supporters being investigated by the FBI to target the prison.

"We recently learned that the FBI has almost 1,000 active ISIS investigations taking place inside the borders of the United States. We believe it would be dangerously naive not to recognize that a civilian prison with an untold number of enemy combatant inmates, located in our state, would provide a very tempting target for anyone wishing to either free these detainees or simply wishing to make a political statement," the sheriffs wrote in their Nov. 9 letter, published by Judicial Watch.

The Obama administration has been working to release or transfer detainees from the Guantanamo Bay facility back to their home countries, but those that are still deemed to dangerous to transfer will be moved to a U.S. facility if President Obama successfully closes the prison, a goal he has touted since his first presidential campaign.

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has said that about half of the remaining 112 Gitmo detainees must be locked up "indefinitely." These prisoners include 9/11 masterminds Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM), Ramzi Binalshibh, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi as well as Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, the Al Qaeda terrorist charged with orchestrating the 2000 attack on the Navy destroyer USS Cole, according to Judicial Watch.
Link


Home Front: WoT
Yemeni 9/11 Suspect again Ejected from Guantanamo Court
2013-12-19
[An Nahar] One of the alleged 9/11 conspirators was removed from court at Guantanamo Bay for the fourth time in two days after calling the prison's commander "a war criminal" Wednesday.

Yemeni suspect Ramzi Binalshibh was initially escorted out of a pre-trial hearing at the U.S. naval base in Cuba seconds after an impromptu speech in which he said the authorities had done nothing to stop sounds that he has heard in his cell.

"I have to leave. I asked you to stop these vibrations. I don't want to stay here as long as there is torture there," Binalshibh, who had already been ejected twice from the court on Tuesday, told military Judge James Pohl.

The latest hearing for Binalshibh and four other men accused of planning the September 11 attacks on Washington and New York in 2001 is being screened for news hounds at the Fort Meade military base in Maryland, via closed-circuit feed.

"If there is no power to stop this you should resign," Binalshibh said, referring to loud banging noises that he contends are preventing him from sleeping at night.

His defense team on Tuesday suggested that prison guards may be responsible for the noises, an allegation the judge said had neither been proven nor unproven.

Judge Pohl warned Binalshibh that his actions were disrupting Wednesday's proceedings and that he would be removed if he did not stop talking, but he continued.

"This is my life, this is torture. You have to stop this," Binalshibh said as he was removed from the court at the start of the morning session.

He returned to the hearing following the lunch break but spoke out again several minutes later while Colonel John Bogdan, commander of Joint Task Force Guantanamo Detention, was giving evidence.

"Sorry, I have to leave. The guy next to you is a war criminal," Binalshibh told Judge Pohl, referring to Bogdan in the dock.

Binalshibh, whose lawyers insist he is mentally fit, was escorted out of court by two guards and taken to the courtroom's holding cell. A request that he be allowed to return to Camp Seven, where he is normally held, was refused by the judge.

Binalshibh's alleged crimes include helping the hijackers find flight schools in the United States and of financing the airliner plot. He and his fellow accused are eventually expected to go on trial in 2015.
Link


Home Front: WoT
Ramzi Binalshibh Ejected by Guantanamo Judge after Outburst over Circus Act
2013-12-18
[An Nahar] One of the men suspected of planning the September 11, 2001 attacks was twice ejected from a U.S. military court Tuesday after making outbursts about secret CIA prisons and torture.

Yemeni defendant Ramzi Binalshibh, who is accused of helping the hijackers enter the United States and of financing the airliner attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people, also claimed that the judge hearing the case was biased.

Binalshibh was initially removed from the latest pre-trial hearing at Guantanamo Bay on that judge's orders, having twice been warned that he would be in contempt of court if he continued to disrupt the proceedings.

His departure came shortly after his lawyer suggested that guards were using sleep deprivation tactics at the U.S. military prison in notorious Camp Seven, where Binalshibh is jugged
Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'!
.

"He could not sleep at all last night because of the noise he is exposed to," said Navy Lieutenant Commander Kevin Bogucki. "He is too tired to pay attention."

The latest hearing for the alleged 9/11 plotters, who are eventually expected to go on trial in 2015, was screened for news hounds at the Fort Meade military base in Maryland, via a closed-circuit feed.

Commander Bogucki said Binalshibh's cell was continually subjected to banging and knocking sounds -- an allegation the U.S. government denies, but which the judge said had not been proven either way.

Having been granted a 15-minute recess to discuss whether Binalshibh understood his right to be present at Tuesday's hearing, the suspect refused to cooperate with Judge James Pohl.

"I refuse to answer this question as long as the judge is taking a position against me and against my allegations," Binalshibh said, before beginning apparently impromptu claims about U.S. treatment of terror suspects across the globe.

After being warned that it was not his time to speak, the Yemeni suspect, whose alleged crimes include helping the hijackers find flight schools in the United States, cited the words "secret CIA prison" during a muffled speech.

Judge Pohl then told Binalshibh he would be removed if he did not stop talking, but the suspect continued and U.S. military guards were instructed to take him to the court's holding cell.

The courtroom camera cut away from Binalshibh while he was being taken out of court, seconds after the judge said he "taken no position" on Binalshibh's allegations.

All five suspects, including the self-proclaimed 9/11 criminal mastermind Khaled Sheikh Mohammed, were present at Tuesday's hearing, dressed in traditional white Arab robes and with several of them wearing desert-colored combat jackets.

Following the lunch recess, Binalshibh returned to the court and was given a second opportunity to acknowledge his rights but he again refused and was removed by guards a second time, amid shouts of "I am not a war criminal".

"As I told you this morning, I am not going to answer your questions," Binalshibh told Judge Pohl. "I want to leave. It is not about yes or no. It is torture. Don't stop me like that," he added, before being removed.

Judge Pohl had asked Binalshibh for a "Yes or No," answer on whether he understood his rights, and said the Yemeni suspect would appear in court again on Wednesday.
Link


Home Front: WoT
Guantanamo: 9/11 suspect expelled from courtroom
2013-09-17
[Al Ahram] One of five men accused of plotting the 11 September 2001 attacks was expelled from a Guantanamo courtroom Monday after trying to speak without permission. The incident involving Yemeni Ramzi Binalshibh happened shortly after the start of a new round of preliminary hearings at the US military facility in Cuba.

"I have the right to talk," Binalshibh said in English after the presiding military judge, Colonel James Pohl, asked the suspects if they understood their rights to waive their right to be present at the start of the proceedings broadcast to Fort Meade near the US capital.

"No you don't have the right to talk," Pohl countered before deciding to temporarily expel the detainee.

"He was warned not to be disruptive," Pohl said, adding that Binalshibh's conduct justified his exclusion.

Investigators say Binalshibh would have been on one of the hijacked planes that smashed into US buildings on 9/11 had he not failed to get a visa granting him entry to the United States.

Binalshibh, allegedly a member of Al-Qaeda's German-based Hamburg cell which planned and carried out the attacks, was captured in Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
 in September 2002 before being handed over to US officials.

Self-declared 9/11 kingpin Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, donning camouflage and sporting a red-tinted beard, also tried to speak about his incarceration at Guantanamo's secretive Camp 7.

Camp 7 is the most secure part of Guantanamo.

"We are never allowed to get any paper from our lawyers," he said in Arabic comments that were translated into English. He was subsequently also cut off by the judge.

But Mohammed, the translation of whose comments became inaudible, was not expelled.

David Nevin, Mohammed's lawyer, told the judge that his client feared that failure to meet with his defense counsel could negatively affect his case.
Miami Herald has more here.
Link


Home Front: WoT
Five 9/11 accused get May 5 Guantanamo court date
2012-04-11
[Dawn] The alleged criminal mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks and his four accused co-plotters will be formally arraigned by a military tribunal on May 5 at Guantanamo Bay, US officials said Tuesday.
After enough political convolutions to incite a national gag reflex...
Military judge James Pohl has fixed the date for the hearing on Saturday, May 5, and it will start at 9:00 am local time, the Pentagon said in a statement. Lawyers for the five could still ask for the hearing to be delayed.
And probably will, because that's what they're paid to do...
US officials last week cleared the way for a long-awaited trial of self-confessed 9/11 criminal mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his alleged co-conspirators unveiling charges that carry a possible death sentence.
It's going on eleven years and the bastard's not dead yet. Don't mention the word "justice."
The five are accused of planning and executing the attacks against New York and Washington as well as the downing of a hijacked airplane in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The attacks led to the deaths of 2,976 people.
But, really, it was we who violated KSM's human rights by extracting information from him. The 2,976 people are dead and some in their graves, but he's still alive so he's more important...
Mohammed and his accused conspirators have been held for years at the US-run prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, while a legal and political battle has played out over how and where to prosecute them.
More like a circus than a battle, unless clowns swatting each other with slapsticks can be called a battle...
The 46-year-old Mohammed, along with Walid bin Attash of Soddy Arabia, Yemen's Ramzi Binalshibh, Pakistain's Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali -- also known as Ammar al-Balochi -- and Mustapha Ahmed al-Hawsawi of Soddy Arabia will appear in court for arraignment proceedings.
There was some guy that tried to assassinate President Roosevelt in Chicago, I think it was. It took about a month to try him and fry him. But that was 80 years ago and we're all so much more civilized now.
Our guys have gotten fat eating what's given to them as they sit in their chain link cages, cut off from the war that was to have got them houris in Paradise, and pretending that flinging poo at their captors makes them noble lions of Islam. I imagine they would have preferred the old way, too.
Their joint trial, which could be months away, will also be held at the American naval base in Guantanamo Bay, where the US government has set up special military commissions to try terror suspects.
Link


Home Front: WoT
US files new charges against Sept. 11 accused
2011-06-02
[Dawn] US military prosecutors filed new conspiracy and murder charges on Tuesday against five men accused of plotting the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001 and asked that they be executed if convicted in the Guantanamo war crimes tribunals.

Self-described 9/11 criminal mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four alleged co-conspirators were charged with conspiring with al Qaeda to carry out the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in the United States.

All are being held in a high-security prison at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

All five faced similar charges at Guantanamo during President George W. Bush's administration. The charges were dropped while President Barack B.O. Obama's administration tried to move the trials into federal civilian court in New York, near the site of the World Trade Center, which was destroyed in the attacks by hijacked aircraft.

Obama yielded to political opposition and announced in April the prosecutions would be moved back to Guantanamo.

Human rights activists have criticized Obama for failing to make good on his order to shut the Guantanamo detention camp.

But his approval ratings on national security issues have risen since he authorized the military raid that killed al Qaeda leader the late Osama bin Laden
... who has left the building...
 in Pakistain in early May.

The official overseeing the Guantanamo tribunals, retired Vice Admiral Bruce MacDonald, must decide whether the case will proceed to trial and whether the death penalty should apply.

Hearings could begin around the time of the 10th anniversary of the attacks.

In addition to Mohammed, an al Qaeda leader captured in Pakistain in 2003, the defendants include his nephew Ali Abdul Aziz Ali as well as Walid bin Attash, Ramzi Binalshibh and Mustafa al Hawsawi.

They are charged with conspiracy, murder in violation of the law of war, attacking civilians, attacking civilian objects, intentionally causing serious bodily injury, destruction of property in violation of the law of war, hijacking aircraft and terrorism.

"The prosecutors have recommended that the charges against all five of the accused be referred as capital," the Pentagon said in a news release, referring to plans to seek the death penalty.

During a pretrial hearing at Guantanamo in 2008, all five said they wanted to plead guilty. The charges were dropped before the military judge could determine whether they were all mentally competent to make that decision and whether the murky tribunal rules allowed them to be executed without a jury verdict on their guilt.
Link



Warning: Undefined property: stdClass::$T in /data/rantburg.com/www/pgrecentorg.php on line 132
-12 More