The trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the four defendants resumes on Tuesday, September 11, 2001, but its outcome is still a long way off as the United States prepares to mourn twenty years after the attack.
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The five men, who have been jailed for fifteen years at a U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay in southeastern Cuba, have not appeared since the beginning of 2019, and the Covit-19 epidemic is pending trial.
Their investigation, which comes under exceptional military justice, should be resumed with the protection of torture to invalidate most of the evidence presented by US authorities when the perpetrators were in the hands of the CIA.
The procedure is being led by a new military magistrate, Colonel Matthew McCall, who is the eighth person to capture it.
Deciding that Tuesday’s hearing would be dedicated to his own merits, the officer made it clear that he would not rush. He likes to spend the rest of the week mainly in meetings with lawyers and defenders.
Considering the numerous appeals filed by defense attorneys to obtain further documents, it may take a few more months or more for the investigation to enter its truly decisive stage.
James Connell, one of the defense attorneys, promised he would “not know” if the trial would end one day.
The defense argues that the five defendants, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Ammar al-Balouchi, Walid bin Atash, Ramzi bin al-Shib, and Mustafa al-Hawzawi, still endure the aftermath of torture inflicted by the CIA while in prison. Intelligence between 2002 and 2006.
Countless, according to their lawyers, were sentenced to fifteen years in prison in a state of great isolation.
Five people charged with “murder” and “acts of terrorism” will be barricaded in a high-security courtroom. They are in danger of the death penalty.
In front of them are the families and journalists of the 2,976 people charged with the dead.
Twenty years ago, just before the recollection of the attacks on the United States, the resumption of the investigation had a particular impact.
For the trial, although the CIA investigations were thwarted, the convictions of the five are beyond doubt.
After arriving in Guantanamo in 2007, prosecutors confirm that the defendants provided conclusive evidence during this time trial by the FBI and federal police.
Incredibly, the FBI has been involved in torturing the CIA and using intimidation techniques, which makes his investigations suspicious.
“There is no illusion that these men were taken to Guantanamo to cover up acts of torture,” said James Connell, who defended Ammar al-Balouchi, rather than being given to ordinary American justice.
Security is demanding a mountain of confidential documents that the government has so far refused to provide, regardless of the torture plan, detention conditions at Guantanamo or the health of the accused.
She wants to hear dozens of additional witnesses, in addition to the 12 who have already appeared before a military tribunal, including two men who oversaw the CIA’s investigation program.
Another defense lawyer, Alka Pradhan, blames the US government for the long delays, recalling that it took six years for the FBI to acknowledge its involvement in the CIA torture plot.
“This business has exhausted you,” he said. “They have the documentation that it would be normal to share in a normal practice.”
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