US charges six over 9/11

The US defence department will charge six men over the September 11th 2001 terror attacks

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Monday, 11, Feb 2008 08:05

The Pentagon has announced that it is to charge six Guantanamo Bay detainees over the September 11th 2001 terror attacks.

Military prosecutors will seek the death penalty for the six men accused of involvement in the attacks on the United States, which resulted in nearly 3,000 people losing their lives after hijacked planes were flown into buildings in New York and Washington.

Khalid Sheik Mohammed, Mohammed al-Qahtani, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi and Walid bin Attash are the first Guantanamo inmates to receive charges directly related to 9/11.

It was announced that a trial will be held in a specially-constructed court at Guantanamo that will allow lawyers and journalists to be present but family relatives will be made to watch the proceedings via closed-circuit TV.

The men will be tried in the military tribunal system, a practice which has been criticised in the past over allegations of abuse of inmates, legal representation and closed door hearings.

Brigadier General Thomas Hartmann, the legal adviser to the convening authority in the department of defence office of military commissions, told a news conference today that all six men would be placed on trial together and that prosecutors would be seeking the death penalty.

"There will be no secret trials", he said, but admitted that there may be "limited circumstances" when classified evidence was presented.

Khalid Sheik Mohammed is the alleged mastermind of the September 11th attacks and with the other five men is charged with a "long-term, highly sophisticated plan by al-Qaida to attack the US".

Sheik Mohammed is said to have been al-Qaida's third in command when he was captured in March 2003.

His confession over an involvement in the terror attacks is controversial as it was made after being subjected to the water-boarding interrogation technique.