9/11 Plotter Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to Face Military Trial

Daily News Article   —   Posted on April 12, 2012

(by Joseph Straw, NYDailyNews.com) WASHINGTON – Al Qaeda big Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others will face a military court May 5 on death-penalty charges for killing 2,976 on 9/11, the Pentagon said Tuesday.

Meanwhile European officials ruled that Britain can hand over one-eyed, hook-handed terrorist Abu Hamsa al-Masri to the U.S., plus four more suspects wanted here – two in the 1998 African embassy bombings that killed 224 people. [They will be extradited: extradite is to send a person who has been accused of a crime to another state or country for trial]

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s (KSM) new arraignment comes over a decade since 9/11, and nine years after his capture in Pakistan.

The Kuwaiti last appeared in a Guantanamo Bay [GITMO] Court nearly four years ago, expressing the defendants’ wishes to plead guilty on all counts.

Soon thereafter, a newly-elected President Obama scrapped Guantanamo proceedings in favor of a civilian criminal trial in Manhattan federal court.  [The civilian trial would give them the full legal rights of a U.S. citizen.]

Pushback from Congress, [and an outcry from the American public] however, forced a return to the secluded Navy base in Cuba, where the Department of Defense re-charged the five on April 4.  They will be tried together, but arguments may not start for months.

Yemeni 9/11 co-defendant Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin ‘Attash allegedly helped mastermind the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole and trained 9/11 hijackers.

Fellow Yemeni Ramzi Binalshibh sought entry to the U.S. to study aviation, and is therefore suspected of being a potential hijacker. He was denied a visa and wired money to the attackers instead.

Saudi defendant Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi allegedly helped hijackers gain entry to the U.S. and then funneled them money, while Pakistani Ali Abdul Aziz Ali paid for flight training, wired the hijackers money and provided other support.

Al-Masri – aka Mustafa Kamel Mustafa – has been jailed in the UK since 2004 for inciting murder in the name of radical Islam. He’s wanted here for trying to set up a terror training camp in Oregon around 2000.

In exchange for the extraditions, the U.S. will not subject any of the British prisoners to the death sentence.

The European Court of Human Rights ruled Tuesday that life sentences in a U.S. super-maximum security federal prison like Florence ADX in Colorado would not violate EU rules. …

Florence inmates spend 23 hours a day in solitary confinement in cells with concrete furniture with tiny windows, denied outside communication.

The EU court said the five “should not be extradited” until its judgment becomes final – a move that could take months – or until a possible appeals process ends.

British prisoner Khalid al-Fawwaz, a Saudi citizen, and Adel Abdul Bary, an Egyptian, are wanted over the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

Syed Talha Ahsan has been charged with conspiring to support terrorists via the Internet, while Babar Ahmad is accused of running websites to raise money, appeal for fighters and provide equipment – like gas masks and night vision goggles – for terrorists.

Conflicting reports have al-Masri losing his hand and eye either diving on a landmine in Afghanistan or bungling an attempt to build a bomb.

Reprinted here for educational purposes only. May not be reproduced on other websites without permission from the New York Daily News.

Background

• Terrorism charges were refiled [on April 4] against 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others, restarting the process to have them tried before a military tribunal.
• According to a statement by Department of Defense, the terrorist known among intelligence officials as KSM faces a myriad of counts including:

• terrorism
• hijacking an aircraft
• conspiracy
• murder
• and attacking civilians

• Nearly 3,000 people died in the attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and in a Pennsylvania plane crash.
• In addition to Mohammed, Walid Muhammed Salih Mubarak Bin Attash, Ramzi Binalshibh, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi will all be tried by military tribunal and face the death penalty if convicted. They will be arraigned at the Guantanamo Bay prison within within 30 days, the Defense Department said.
• This is the second time the charges against Mohammed and his co-conspirators have been referred. Nearly four years ago the Obama administration halted the military process [and insisted on] trying the suspects in civilian court [which would give them full legal rights of a U.S. citizen], rather than a military tribunal.
• After years of political wrangling between the administration and Congress [as well as opposition from the American people to trying the terrorists in civil court] the case was transferred back to the military commission last year. (from yahoonews.com)