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Pentagon Charges Six Suspects in 9/11 Plot
By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 11, 2008
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 11, 2008
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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The Pentagon has charged six men accused of planning the September 11, 2001 attacks and will seek the death penalty (the Pentagon's terse press release was titled "Defense Department Seeks Death Penalty for Six Guantanamo Bay Detainees"). These would be "the first trials under the terrorism-era military tribunal system."
The defendants will see the evidence and will have similar rights as U.S. soldiers accused of crimes. As for whether evidence and confessions gained through methods, the NY Times reports that a judge will determine whether the evidence can be admitted. Some quotes from Air Force Brigadier General Thomas Hartmann, legal advisor to the Department of Defense's office of Military Commissions:
“These rights are guaranteed to each defendant under the Military Commission Act and are specifically designed to ensure that every defendant receives a fair trial, consistent with American standards of justice...
“It's our obligation to move the process forward, to give these people their rights. We are going to give them rights. We are going to give them rights that are virtually identical to the rights we provide to our military members, our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines who fight in the battlefield, and I think we'll all agree are national treasures.”
The defendants are Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarek bin Attash, Ramzi Binalshibh, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, Mustafa Ahmed Adam al-Hawsawi, Mohamed al-Kahtani and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (pictured), who was charged with "proposing the operational concept to Osama bin Laden as early as 1996, obtaining approval and funding from bin Laden for the attacks, overseeing the entire operation, and training the hijackers in all aspects of the operation in Afghanistan and Pakistan."
Last year, the Pentagon released his apparently confession about admitted feeling sorry for killing so many people and, last week, the Bush administration admitted that Mohammed did undergo waterboarding.
Tagged
9/11
air force
As
bush
death
death penalty
Defense Department
Department of Defense
guantanamo bay
khalid sheikh mohammed
military tribunal
ny times
Osama bin Laden
Pakistan
september 11
The Pentagon
trial
waterboarding
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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