Six Sept. 11 suspects charged with murder

[unhappycamper]

Six Sept. 11 suspects charged with murder
By Pauline Jelinek - The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Feb 11, 2008 19:36:46 EST

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon has charged six detainees at Guantanamo Bay with murder and war crimes in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks. Officials said Monday they’ll seek the death penalty in what would be the first trials under the terrorism-era military tribunal system.

“These charges allege a long term, highly sophisticated, organized plan by al-Qaida to attack the United States of America,” Brig. Gen. Thomas W. Hartmann, the legal adviser to the tribunal system, told reporters. He said a total of 169 charges were sworn against suspects “alleged to be responsible for the planning and execution of the attacks” in 2001 that killed nearly 3,000 people.

Hartmann said the six include Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the attacks in which hijackers flew planes into buildings in New York and Washington. Another hijacked plane crashed in the fields of western Pennsylvania.

The military wants the six tried together before a military tribunal. But the cases may be clouded because of recent revelations that Mohammed was subject to a harsh interrogation technique known as waterboarding — which critics call torture.

Asked what impact that will have on the case, Hartmann said it will be up to the military judge to determine what evidence is allowed.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/02/ap_sept11charges_080211/