'NY trial' for key 9/11 suspects
-
-
- conservativelyliberal
- added this
Alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will be sent from Guantanamo Bay to New York for trial in a civilian court, reports say.
Citing unnamed government officials, the reports said he would be transferred from the US prison camp in Cuba with four other suspects.
US Attorney General Eric Holder is expected to announce the decision later, the officials say.
Mr Mohammed has admitted planning the 9/11 attacks, the US military says.
The five men have until now been facing prosecution at US military commissions in Guantanamo. The government had faced a 16 November deadline to decide how to proceed in their cases.
Obama: 'Sheikh to face exacting demands of justice'
US President Barack Obama has made closing the detention camp a top priority.
Asked about the reports during a visit to Tokyo, he declined to pre-empt Mr Holder's announcement, but said that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed would face "most exacting demands of justice".
According to the reports, Mr Holder will also announce that a suspect in the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen will be tried at a military tribunal.
Deadline looming
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has been described by US investigators as "one of history's most infamous terrorists".
Paul Reynolds, BBC World Affairs correspondent
The decision is a major step towards Mr Obama's target of closing Guantanamo Bay a year after he took office. However, it will not solve all the remaining problems.
The most difficult is what to do with an estimated 70 prisoners against whom there is not enough useable evidence for either a military or a civilian trial yet whose release is regarded as too dangerous. Other prisoners might also face civilian trial or military commissions, so Mr Obama appears unlikely to decide that a civilian court should be the only place where suspects will face justice.
It remains to be seen whether the federal court will accept any alleged confession by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed as it might have been based on water-boarding, or whether, in a courtroom very close to Ground Zero, he will seek to glory in the attacks.
They say he has admitted being responsible "from A to Z" for the 9/11 attacks.
Believed to be the number three al-Qaeda leader, he was captured in Pakistan in March 2003.
Citing unnamed government officials, the reports said he would be transferred from the US prison camp in Cuba with four other suspects.
US Attorney General Eric Holder is expected to announce the decision later, the officials say.
Mr Mohammed has admitted planning the 9/11 attacks, the US military says.
The five men have until now been facing prosecution at US military commissions in Guantanamo. The government had faced a 16 November deadline to decide how to proceed in their cases.
Obama: 'Sheikh to face exacting demands of justice'
US President Barack Obama has made closing the detention camp a top priority.
Asked about the reports during a visit to Tokyo, he declined to pre-empt Mr Holder's announcement, but said that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed would face "most exacting demands of justice".
According to the reports, Mr Holder will also announce that a suspect in the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen will be tried at a military tribunal.
Deadline looming
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has been described by US investigators as "one of history's most infamous terrorists".
Paul Reynolds, BBC World Affairs correspondent
The decision is a major step towards Mr Obama's target of closing Guantanamo Bay a year after he took office. However, it will not solve all the remaining problems.
The most difficult is what to do with an estimated 70 prisoners against whom there is not enough useable evidence for either a military or a civilian trial yet whose release is regarded as too dangerous. Other prisoners might also face civilian trial or military commissions, so Mr Obama appears unlikely to decide that a civilian court should be the only place where suspects will face justice.
It remains to be seen whether the federal court will accept any alleged confession by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed as it might have been based on water-boarding, or whether, in a courtroom very close to Ground Zero, he will seek to glory in the attacks.
They say he has admitted being responsible "from A to Z" for the 9/11 attacks.
Believed to be the number three al-Qaeda leader, he was captured in Pakistan in March 2003.
-
- groups:
- Community, Current Tonight
-
- tags:
- News and Politics, Guantanamo Bay, Al-Qaeda, 9-11
