Trial of 9/11 attacks ‘mastermind’ and four others resumes

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Accused September 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others appeared in court for the first time in more than 18 months yesterday as US military prosecutors seek justice two decades after the world-shaking terror attacks.

Mohammed — with a dense, graying red beard — strode easily into the courtroom in the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay Cuba, as the nine-year-old trial resumed after a long halt for the COVID-19 pandemic.

The military tribunal courtroom was packed with prosecutors, interpreters, and five defense teams for Mohammed and alleged co-conspirators Ammar Al-Baluchi, Walid bin Attash, Ramzi bin Al Shibh and Mustafa Al Hawsawi. In the audience, behind thick glass, were members of the families of the 2,976 people the defendants are accused of murdering almost exactly 20 years ago.

The accused face possible execution if found guilty. But, with the pretrial phase now in its ninth year and bogged down over what is now the central issue, that the five were repeatedly tortured by the CIA after their capture, there is no immediate end in sight to the proceedings.

Without a political intervention — President Joe Biden had pledged during his campaign to close down the military prison at Guantanamo Bay — it could be more than a year before a full trial begins, much less a verdict reached. The trial resumed yesterday in the highly secure “Camp Justice” courtroom on a hilltop in the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay.

The last time the court met was February 2019, just as the coronavirus began sweeping across the US. The site for the trial sits about 10 kilometres (six miles) from the coastline prison camps where the five defendants and 34 other “War on Terror” detainees have been held for 15 years or more.