Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-professed mastermind of the September 2001 terror attacks that demolished the twin towers of New York’s World Trade Centre, will be tried by a military commission at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and not in America’s civilian courts.
Four co-conspirators will also be tried with Khalid, often referred to as 'KSM', at the US military base in Guantanamo.
The decision comes just a month after President Barack Obama lifted a two-year freeze on military tribunals, conceding that his plan to close the detention centre and transfer prisoners to the US had failed.
The families of those killed in the September 11 attacks, which included an attack on the Pentagon, have waited almost a decade for justice, and "it must not be delayed any longer", US Attorney-General Eric Holder said early today.
Mr Holder had announced in November 2009 that the suspects would be sent for trial in New York, prompting an outcry from many Republicans, and even some Democrats. Congress subsequently passed legislation that prohibits bringing any detainees from Guantanamo Bay to the US.
Mr Holder said the stalemate left him with no choice but to resume military trials, which carry a lower burden of proof and have been criticised by human rights groups as unworthy of the US justice system.
"Because a timely prosecution in federal court does not appear feasible, the Attorney-General intends to refer this matter to the Department of Defence to proceed in military commissions," read an order dismissing civilian proceedings against the suspects.
Mr Holder criticised Congress for the "unwise and unwarranted restrictions" that it had placed on the judicial system, claiming they would hinder US counter-intelligence and counter-terrorism efforts.
Clearly angry, he said he knew as well as anyone the federal court’s capacity to try the suspects.
"Do I know better than [Congress]? Yes. I respect their ability to disagree but they should respect that this is an executive branch function, a unique executive branch function," he said at a news conference.
Khalid has been held at Guantanamo since 2006, after being captured in Pakistan in 2003. The other four suspects are Walid Muhammed Salih Mubarak Bin Attash, Ramzi Bin Al Shibh, Ali Abdul-Aziz Ali and Mustafa Ahmed Al Hawsawi.
The five detainees are accused of killing 2976 people - all named in an 81-page indictment dismissed and unsealed today by a federal judge.
Despite the shift, Mr Holder said he was fully confident in the military commission system.
"Prosecutors from both the departments of Defence and Justice have been working together since the beginning of this matter, and I have full faith and confidence in the military commission system to appropriately handle this case as it proceeds."
About 170 prisoners remain at the detainee centre at Guantanamo Bay, 30 of whom are due to face trial in criminal courts or before military commissions. Since 2002, 598 prisoners have been transferred to other countries.
Also today, the US Supreme Court rejected appeals from two Yemenis and a Kuwaiti man who are protesting against their indefinite detention at Guantanamo. But the court did not rule on a separate appeal from a group of Chinese Muslims, or Uighurs, who have been cleared for release, but have previously turned down an offer to be resettled in the tiny Pacific nation of Palau.
Critics of military commissions say the Justice Department’s decision sends the wrong signals.
"It’s alarmingly premature for the government to decide on military commission trials for these defendants when substantial questions remain as to the legality and legitimacy of these tribunals," said Stephen Vladeck, a constitutional law expert and law professor at American University Washington College of Law.
"Sending these high-profile and critically important cases to such a thoroughly untested system, as opposed to the well-established civilian courts which have time and again proved their ability to handle terrorism prosecutions, sends exactly the wrong message about the rule of law in the United States," he said.
- with agencies
Email a friend