9/11 plotter Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to face trial in 2021

(by Bob Fredericks, NY Post) – Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (also referred to as KSM), the “mastermind” of the 9/11 terror attacks, will finally go on trial on Jan. 11, 2021 at the US military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba — nearly two decades after the al Qaeda attacks that killed 2,976 people on U.S. soil.

The judge in the case, Air Force Col. Shane Cohen, set the date — just months shy of the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 coordinated attacks…to start selection of a jury comprised of military officers at the war court compound called Camp Justice.

Mohammed and four other jihadis — Walid bin Attash, Ramzi Bin al-Shibh, Ammar al-Baluchi, and Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi — face the death penalty in the case.

The native Pakistani and his co-defendants are charged with terrorism, hijacking aircraft, murder in violation of the laws of war, conspiracy, attacking civilians, attacking civilian objects, intentionally causing serious bodily injury and destruction of property in violation of the law of war.

Cohen’s order also lays out a number of other deadlines in a case that has been bogged down in pretrial litigation since the five defendants were arraigned in May 2012.

Mohammed was captured in March 2003 in a house in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, along with al-Hawsawi and several other Islamist goons.

In September 2006, the US revealed that Mohammed had been held at a secret overseas CIA prison…and that he was being transferred to Guantanamo.

During interrogation, he:

• admitted to personally decapitating Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl — an atrocity captured on video
• took responsibility for shoe bomber Richard Reid’s failed attempt to blow up an airliner over the Atlantic Ocean
• said he directed the Bali nightclub bombing in Indonesia
• admitted his involvement in the 1993 World Trade Center attack (and talked about other attempted plots that failed)

“I was responsible for the 9/11 operation, from A to Z,” he said after being sent to Gitmo.

During his arraignment 7 years ago, Mohammed said that he wanted to represent himself and to plead guilty for his role in the 9/11 attacks and become a “martyr.”

The Justice Department under President Obama initially wanted to try KSM in federal court in New York, but changed course after criticism of the costs and security risks of trying him so close to Ground Zero [as well as the fact that he is an enemy combatant, not a civilian criminal].

Meanwhile, his lawyer said that with multiple appeals expected after what looks like a sure conviction in the military courtroom KSM will likely die before his case is finally resolved.

Attorney David Nevin told The Guardian that an initial appeal could take five years, with a circuit court appeal taking another three or four years, and four years after that, a final appeal to the Supreme Court.

“There’s every possibility that my client will die in prison before this process is completed,” said Nevin. …..

The defendants have also asked for a deal in which they would plead guilty and then cooperate with the government’s ongoing investigations of 9/11 and al Qaeda.

But the Trump Administration has ruled out any plea bargains with the terrorists. …

Published at NYPost .com on August 30, 2019. Reprinted here for educational purposes only. May not be reproduced on other websites without permission from the New York Post.