Guantanamo Bay: The prosecution of alleged September 11 Mastermind Khalid Sheikh Muhammad and the other four restarted Tuesday, just a few days before the 20-year anniversary of the attack, stirred new hopes for justice and levies.
Mohammed and co-defendants, which have been locked up in the prison “war against terror” at the US Naval Base in Gulf Guantanamo, Cuba for almost 15 years, will appear in a military court here for the first time since the beginning of 2019.
But after a 17-month termination Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the process emerged would continue where they left, mired in defense efforts to disqualify most of the government’s evidence as stopped by the torture of the defendants in CIA custody.
On Sunday, new military judges, the Colonel Air Force Matthew McCall – eighth – signaling a slow start, deciding that the initial hearing focused on the qualification itself will take place on Tuesday.
Lawyers for both parties are permitted in the war crime court to question new judges for possible bias.
The rest of the week will mostly involve meetings with the military prosecutor and defense team.
With a number of movements marching to demand that the military prosecutor refused, the defense lawyer said the preterial phase could easily last a year, put far more than the horizon of every hope for the jury test and verdict.
Asked whether the case could reach that point, one defense lawyer, James Connell, replied, “I don’t know.” The lawyer said five defendants – Mohammed, Ammar Al-Baluchi, Walid bin Atlash, Ramzi bin al-Shibh and Mustafa al-Hawsawi – were all weak and suffered eternal effects of severe torture who survived in the “black” location that was secretly in between.
2002 and 2006.
Plus, the lawyer said, is a cumulative impact of 15 years in harsh and isolated conditions since arriving.
They will appear in the ultra-safe military commission room surrounded by razor wire fences, each with his own defense team.
In the audience will be a family member of several 2,976 people accused of killing two decades ago, as well as a large contingent of journalists to mark meetings with Somber’s birthday on Saturday.
Five faces the death penalty for charges of murder and terrorism in the war crime court.
They were represented by a lawyer assigned by the military, as well as pro-bono lawyers from the private sector and non-governmental organizations.
Because this case began, prosecutors demanded it as open and close, even without contaminated information reaping from the brutal interrogation of CIA.
On the contrary, the prosecutor stated that the defendants all provided solid evidence to conspire in an 9/11 attack during what was called the “Clean Team” interrogation carried out by the FBI in 2007, after five arrived at Guantanamo.
But defense lawyers argue that the 2007 interrogation was almost not “clean” because the FBI also participated in the CIA torture program, and their interrogation brought a similar threat.
The defendants still felt the impact of torture at that time, talking to the FBI under the real fear that it would begin again, defense argued.
“Don’t get me wrong, covering torture is the reason that these people were taken to Guantanamo” Instead of the US Federal Justice System, Connell said, which represents Baluchi.
“Covering torture is also the reason that we all gather in Guantanamo for 42nd hearing at the 9/11 military commission,” he said.
To prove their case, the defense demanded a large number of classified materials maintained by the government, on all things starting from the original torture program with conditions in Guantanamo to health assessment.
The defense lawyer also wanted to interview the lack of witnesses, after 12 had appeared in front of the court, including two men who oversaw the CIA program.
Demands have delayed the trial, but the defense blamed the government to actively hide material relevant to the case.
Alka Pradhan, another defense lawyer, noted that the six-year government needed to recognize that the FBI took part in the CIA torture program.
“This case uses it,” he said.
“They hold things that are normal procedures in court.”