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Alleged 9/11 Leader Faces Gitmo Tribunal

Doubts about fairness attend trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed

By Jason Farago,  Newser Staff

Posted Jun 5, 2008 8:07 AM CDT
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(Newser) – Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the September 11 attacks, will be arraigned today at a special military tribunal at Guantánamo Bay, reports the Washington Post. Five years after his arrest in Pakistan, the detainee and four others will appear in a specially designed, $4 million courtroom to face charges of terrorism and "murder in violation of the law of war." 

The Pentagon has flown in 60 journalists to the Cuban military base to witness the trial of the most high-profile prisoner now held in US custody; critics contend that the proceedings are designed to produce a conviction rather than a fair trial. Evidence obtained via torture is considered inadmissible, but material gleaned from waterboarding—which Mohammed was subjected to—faces no prohibition.

The sun sets over Camp Justice and its adjacent tent city, the legal complex of the U.S. Military Commissions, at Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base, in Cuba, Wednesday, June 4, 2008.
The sun sets over Camp Justice and its adjacent tent city, the legal complex of the U.S. Military Commissions, at Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base, in Cuba, Wednesday, June 4, 2008.   (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, Pool)
A U.S. trooper jogs at the tent city which makes up the legal complex of the U.S. Military Commissions, at Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base, in Cuba, Wednesday, June 4, 2008.
A U.S. trooper jogs at the tent city which makes up the legal complex of the U.S. Military Commissions, at Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base, in Cuba, Wednesday, June 4, 2008.   (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, Pool)
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged Sept. 11, 2001 mastermind, is seen shortly after his capture during a raid in Pakistan in this file photo from March 1, 2003 in this photo obtained by the Associated Press.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged Sept. 11, 2001 mastermind, is seen shortly after his capture during a raid in Pakistan in this file photo from March 1, 2003 in this photo obtained by the Associated...   (AP Photo)
Brig. Gen. Thomas Hartmann, Legal Advisor for the Office of Military Commissions, briefs members of the media about the U.S. Military Commissions process, at the legal complex of the U.S. Military Commissions, at Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base, in Cuba, Wednesday, June 4, 2008.
Brig. Gen. Thomas Hartmann, Legal Advisor for the Office of Military Commissions, briefs members of the media about the U.S. Military Commissions process, at the legal complex of the U.S. Military Commissions,...   (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, Pool)
The sun sets over Camp Justice and its adjacent tent city, the legal complex of the U.S. Military Commissions, at Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base, in Cuba, Wednesday, June 4, 2008.
The sun sets over Camp Justice and its adjacent tent city, the legal complex of the U.S. Military Commissions, at Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base, in Cuba, Wednesday, June 4, 2008.   (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, Pool)
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Gitmo: the anti-Nuremburg
Time

Background on all five defendants
Chicago Tribune

 
torture • military tribunal • September 11 • Guantanamo Bay • Khalid Sheikh Mohammed • Guantanamo prisoners • waterboarding

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