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Gitmo Gears up for Terror Trials

US builds new courtroom complex at base

By Peter Fearon,  Newser Staff

Posted Sep 6, 2007 4:38 AM CDT
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(Newser) – A high-security mobile courtroom complex is under construction at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base as officials prepare to  try 9/11 suspect Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other high profile al-Qaeda figures. Military tribunals will try as many as 80 detainees at the complex, three at a time, Reuters reports. Critics complain that the trials will follow neither US nor international law and will accept coerced evidence.

The $10 million project is slated for completion by early spring. "It's not there to stay. It's there to do its mission and  go away," said an official. To date, Australian David Hicks is the only person to be convicted in the Gitmo tribunals, but he avoided trial by accepting a nine-month sentence in a plea deal.

FILE ** A Guantanamo detainee sits alone inside a fenced area during his daily outside period, at Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base, Cuba.
FILE ** A Guantanamo detainee sits alone inside a fenced area during his daily outside period, at Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base, Cuba.   (Associated Press)
FILE ** The sun rises over the razor-wired detention compound at Camp Delta, Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base, Cuba, Thursday, in this Dec. 8, 2006, file photo. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)
FILE ** The sun rises over the razor-wired detention compound at Camp Delta, Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base, Cuba, Thursday, in this Dec. 8, 2006, file photo. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)   (Associated Press)
FILE ** A shackled detainee is taken down from a vehicle as he is transported to an interview with U.S. officials, within Camp Delta detention center, Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base, Cuba, (AP Photo/Brennan Llinsley)
FILE ** A shackled detainee is taken down from a vehicle as he is transported to an interview with U.S. officials, within Camp Delta detention center, Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base, Cuba, (AP Photo/Brennan...   (Associated Press)
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