Decision Closing for 9/11 Mastermind Trial
Only a few days after the case of the first suspect from the Guantanamo military prison transferred to the United States to face civilian trial ended with the closing arguments and the jury began deliberations, another Gitmo prisoner is about to stand trial. This time is Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the person accused of being the mastermind behind the attacks from September the 11th, 2001, as well as other confessed plotters of the World Trade Center terror attacks. The announcement was made on Wednesday by the Attorney General Eric Holder, who said that a decision in this case is near.
Most likely the accused men will be judged by a special military commision that will travel to Guantanamo Bay, where the plotters are now held, after a after a New York lawmaker ruled out Holderʼs choice of a federal court in New York City. The Attorney General initially announced that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed would be brought to the United States and face a civilian trial in a downtown federal courthouse, located very near to the site of the former World Trade Center. But his decision faced the opposition of the New York officials and residents in lower Manhattan, who argued that the costs of such a trial and the security threats would be to high. And even some politicians from Washington, both Republican and Democrats, expressed their disagreement with presidentʼs Obama intention to hold civilian trials for some detainees held at the U.S. base in Guantanamo Bay.
After the Attorney General announced that a decision regarding the 9/11 plotters will soon be taken, the reactions quickly appeared. The New York Senator Charles Schumer clearly stated that the the trial shoul not and would not be held in New York, while the New York Representative Peter T. King urged Holder not to hold any 9/11 trials in New York or anywhere on US soil. Moreover, he expressed his choice for a military commision at Guantanamo, rather than a civilian trial. Human rights organizations also got involved in this problem. On Tuesday, Human Rights Watch started airing a 30-second commerical in over 11,000 New York yellow cabs, asking for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to be judged in a New York City federal court and not before a military tribunal. The final decision is now in the hands of president Barack Obama, who is expected to announce it after his arrival from his tour in Asia.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is charged with terrorism and conspiracy and, if found guilty, he could be sentenced to death. The 46-years-old terrorist was arrested in 2003 by the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence, possibly with the help of the American Diplomatic Security Service. Like other alleged terrorists, for several years he was held in secret locations, before being taken, in 2006, to the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. A few months later he confessed to being the mastermind behind the September 11 attacks, as well as other attacks against the United States (such as the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, the bombing of a nightclub in Bali, Indonesia, or the failed attempt of Richard Reid to blow up a plane over the Atlatic Ocean). The administration of president George W. Bush began military-commision proceedings against Mohammed, but they were halted by president Obama and replaced with new procedures which, Obama said, improved protection for the defendant.
