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US Seeks Death for 6 in 9/11 Case

Capital punishment could put new burden on untested military tribunal system

By Lucas Laursen,  Newser Staff

Posted Feb 11, 2008 9:00 AM CST

(Newser) – US authorities are preparing to ask for the death penalty for six suspects in the 9/11 attacks who are detainees at Guantanamo. “If any case warrants it, it would be for individuals who were parties to a crime of that scale,” a Defense Department official told the New York Times yesterday. The six include Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the al-Qaeda operative who says he masterminded the attacks.

The case will be handled by the controversial military tribunal system, which has yet to hear a single trial. Some relatives of victims argue that execution would reward the hijackers with martyrdom, but their execution is far from certain. “The system hasn’t been able to handle the less-complicated cases it has been presented with to date,” said a law professor and former Naval officer. A death sentence could still be reviewed by a civilian appeals court.

US military personnel  inspect each occupied cell on a two-minute cycle at Camp 5 maximum-security facility on Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base in Cuba, in this Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2007, file photo. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for six top suspects in the 9/11 attacks. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)
US military personnel inspect each occupied cell on a two-minute cycle at Camp 5 maximum-security facility on Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base in Cuba, in this Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2007, file photo. Prosecutors...   (Associated Press)
In this photo, reviewed by a U.S. Department of Defense official, a Guantanamo detainee, center left  in white, jogs around the exercise area at the medium security portion of Camp Delta detention facility, at the Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base, Cuba on Thursday, Sept. 21, 2006. Prosecutors are...
In this photo, reviewed by a U.S. Department of Defense official, a Guantanamo detainee, center left in white, jogs around the exercise area at the medium security portion of Camp Delta detention facility,...   (Associated Press)
In a file photo Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged Sept. 11 mastermind, is seen shortly after his capture during a raid in Pakistan Saturday March 1, 2003, in this photo obtained by the Associated Press.  (AP Photo)
In a file photo Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged Sept. 11 mastermind, is seen shortly after his capture during a raid in Pakistan Saturday March 1, 2003, in this photo obtained by the Associated Press....   (Associated Press)
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