‘9/11 Five’ due back in court but trial elusive
Print Edition
The five men accused of plotting the September 11, 2001, attacks — including the alleged mastermind — are due back in military court this week, though their prospects for an actual trial remain elusive.
More than 14 years after al-Qaida hijackers seized four passenger jets and killed about 3,000 people in New York, at the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania, the “9/11 Five” who allegedly helped hatch the plot remain holed up in the US military’s prison at Guantanamo Bay in southeastern Cuba.
Their case is moving at a snail’s pace, slowed by countless defense motions and allegations of government misconduct, coupled with the sheer logistical headache of flying the judge, lawyers and other staff into and out of America’s remote penal colony every time the men appear in court.
At the center of the case is Pakistan-born Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who was arrested in 2003 and subjected to “enhanced interrogation” by the Central Intelligence Agency, including numerous waterboarding sessions.
He was transferred to Guantanamo in 2006 and has publicly admitted to being the principal planner behind the 9/11 attacks.
The other four accused are: Walid bin Attash and Ramzi Binalshibh of Yemen, Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali — Mohammed’s nephew — and Mustapha al-Hawsawi of Saudi Arabia.
All five men face the death penalty, but any verdicts are likely years away.
They are due in court for a series of pre-trial hearings in which judge Colonel James Pohl will try to sift through a slew of defense motions, including one seeking to depose a former CIA interpreter who was working on one of the defense teams.
Further complicating matters is a workplace dispute, in which women prison guards complained after Pohl ordered them to stop escorting the detainees.
The defense had argued that Mohammed experienced sexual humiliation while being tortured by the CIA.
“He’s a torture victim,” Mohammed’s lead attorney David Nevin said. “Having to be handled by female guards recapitulates that torture.”
Pohl in January ordered the women guards to stop touching the detainees, prompting outrage from senior defense officials.
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