9/11 trial in shadow of Ground Zero

Published on Friday 13 November 2009 21:22

KHALID Sheikh Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, will face trial in a court a few blocks away from where the World Trade Centre once stood, it was announced yesterday.

The suspect will be transferred from Guantanamo Bay with four other detainees accused over the plot, all of whom will now be tried in a civilian federal court in New York City, US attorney-general Eric Holder said.

He added that he expected prosecutors to seek the death penalty in all five cases.

Mohammed has admitted to interrogators that he was the architect of the 2001 plot that killed almost 3,000 people.

It is alleged he told agents he suggested the idea to Osama bin Laden as early as 1996. He went on to fund the attacks, train hijackers and oversee the operation, it is claimed. Mohammed will be tried alongside Waleed bin Attash, Ramzi Binalshibh, Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi and Ali Abdul al-Aziz Ali.

But opponents have argued that treating the men as normal criminal suspects will give them the opportunity to espouse their extremist views in open court.

Speaking in Japan prior to the announcement, US president Barack Obama said: "I am absolutely convinced that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will be subjected to the most exacting demands of justice."

Those facing prosecution under military law include Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, the man prosecutors claim was behind the bombing of the USS Cole in October 2000, killing 17 sailors and injuring many more.

The civilian trials could shed light on some of the interrogation techniques used by US agents at Guantanamo Bay.

It is reported that Mohammad was subjected to waterboarding – the simulated drowning of suspects – 183 times in 2003 before the practice was banned.

Bringing the trial to New York is seen by some as a risk. Defence lawyers will probably claim the defendants are unlikely to get a fair trial in a courtroom so close to the attacks' main target.

Opponents of the closure of Guantanamo Bay have said moving the suspects to US soil puts Americans at greater risk.

However, British relatives of 9/11 victims last night welcomed the news.

Norman Thompson's son, Nigel, a Cantor Fitzgerald stockbroker, died in the World Trade Centre. Speaking from his Sheffield home, Mr Thompson said: "We will never get closure. The sentence we were handed is for the rest of our lives.

"But if they do try him and find him guilty and say, 'yes, the death penalty', we wouldn't disagree with that. As long as it is a fair trial."

Graham Berkeley died aged 37 when the plane he was in struck the second tower. His father, Charles Berkeley, 77, of Shrewsbury, said it was better that the suspects were tried in court than remained at Guantanamo Bay.

But he added that the trial would bring no comfort to his family. "The loss will be the same," he said.

However, the decision outraged American family members of some 11 September victims. And Republican Senator Jon Kyl called bringing Mohammed to New York "an unnecessary risk".