The US Attorney General has promised to seek the death penalty against an alleged architect of the September 11 terror attacks and four other Guantanamo Bay detainees.
Attorney General Eric Holder said that Mohammed, 44, will face a death penalty trial in federal court in New York for allegedly masterminding the 2001 attacks.
In addition to felling the twin towers, he claims to have personally beheaded US journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002 with his "blessed right hand" and to have helped in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing that killed six people.
Mohammed is to stand trial along with the other 9/11 suspects who were being held in the US military prison in Cuba.
The five were being prosecuted at Guantanamo, but Barack Obama's administration has pledged to close it.
Washington Notebook
Incisive commentary on US politics from Jon-Christopher Bua
Mohammed, Waleed bin Attash, Ramzi Binalshibh, Mustafa Ahmad al Hawsawi and Ali Abd al Aziz Ali are accused of orchestrating the attacks that killed 2,973 people in 2001.
"I am confident in the ability of our courts to provide these defendants a fair trial, just as they have for over 200 years," Holder said.
"I am quite confident that the outcomes in these cases will be successful ones."
The transfer of legal action to the US homeland would go some way to meeting President Barack Obama's promise to shut down the legal twilight zone of Guantanamo Bay.
Human Rights Watch praised the decision as an "important step forward for justice."
Mohammed told interrogators he masterminded the deadly strikes, which involved hijackers crashing passenger planes in New York and Washington.
The suspect allegedly proposed the concept to Osama bin Laden as early as 1996.
A recent picture of Mohammed
He also obtained funding for the attacks from the al Qaeda leader, oversaw the operation and trained the hijackers in Afghanistan and Pakistan, it is claimed.
Bringing such notorious suspects onto US soil is a key step in president's 'Gitmo' shutdown plan.
It is also a major legal and political test of Mr Obama's overall approach to terrorism and may spur criticism from those who never wanted the suspects in a civilian courtroom.
The New York trial could also force the court system to confront a host of difficult issues surrounding counter-terrorism programmes started after the 2001 attacks
Attorney General Eric Holder said that Mohammed, 44, will face a death penalty trial in federal court in New York for allegedly masterminding the 2001 attacks.
In addition to felling the twin towers, he claims to have personally beheaded US journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002 with his "blessed right hand" and to have helped in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing that killed six people.
Mohammed is to stand trial along with the other 9/11 suspects who were being held in the US military prison in Cuba.
The five were being prosecuted at Guantanamo, but Barack Obama's administration has pledged to close it.
Washington Notebook
Incisive commentary on US politics from Jon-Christopher Bua
Mohammed, Waleed bin Attash, Ramzi Binalshibh, Mustafa Ahmad al Hawsawi and Ali Abd al Aziz Ali are accused of orchestrating the attacks that killed 2,973 people in 2001.
"I am confident in the ability of our courts to provide these defendants a fair trial, just as they have for over 200 years," Holder said.
"I am quite confident that the outcomes in these cases will be successful ones."
The transfer of legal action to the US homeland would go some way to meeting President Barack Obama's promise to shut down the legal twilight zone of Guantanamo Bay.
Human Rights Watch praised the decision as an "important step forward for justice."
Mohammed told interrogators he masterminded the deadly strikes, which involved hijackers crashing passenger planes in New York and Washington.
The suspect allegedly proposed the concept to Osama bin Laden as early as 1996.
A recent picture of Mohammed
He also obtained funding for the attacks from the al Qaeda leader, oversaw the operation and trained the hijackers in Afghanistan and Pakistan, it is claimed.
Bringing such notorious suspects onto US soil is a key step in president's 'Gitmo' shutdown plan.
It is also a major legal and political test of Mr Obama's overall approach to terrorism and may spur criticism from those who never wanted the suspects in a civilian courtroom.
The New York trial could also force the court system to confront a host of difficult issues surrounding counter-terrorism programmes started after the 2001 attacks
No comments:
Post a Comment