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US 'to charge six 9/11 suspects' US charges six suspects over 9/11
(about 1 hour later)
The Pentagon is planning to charge six Guantanamo Bay prisoners with involvement in the 11 September 2001 attacks in the US, officials have said. The Pentagon has announced charges against six Guantanamo Bay prisoners over their alleged involvement in the 11 September 2001 attacks in the US.
Prosecutors will seek the death penalty for the six, who include alleged mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Prosecutors will seek the death penalty for the six, who include alleged plot mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
The charges, the first for Guantanamo inmates directly related to 9/11, are expected to be heard by a controversial military tribunal system.The charges, the first for Guantanamo inmates directly related to 9/11, are expected to be heard by a controversial military tribunal system.
About 3,000 people died in the hijacked plane attacks.About 3,000 people died in the hijacked plane attacks.
Tribunal processTribunal process
Formal announcement of the charges is expected soon in Washington. Brig Gen Thomas Hartmann, a legal adviser to the head of the Pentagon's Office of Military Commissions, said the charges alleged a "long-term, highly sophisticated plan by al-Qaeda to attack the US".
Defence department spokesman Bryan Whitman said it was "working diligently to prepare cases and bring charges against a number of individuals who have been involved in some of the most grievous acts of violence and terror against the United States and our allies".
The US has about 275 prisoners left in the detention centreThe US has about 275 prisoners left in the detention centre
The New York Times reported that other defendants to be charged will include alleged senior al-Qaeda member Ramzi Binalshibh, who was captured in Pakistan in 2002, and a man alleged to have been the 20th hijacker in the attacks, Mohammed al-Qahtani. Sheikh Mohammed, who was said to have been al-Qaeda's third in command when he was captured in Pakistan in March 2003, has reportedly admitted to decapitating kidnapped US journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged al-Qaeda No 3 when he was captured in Pakistan in March 2003, has reportedly admitted to decapitating kidnapped US journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002. The other five defendants are Ramzi Binalshibh, Walid bin Attash, Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi and Mohammed al-Qahtani.
Any trials would be held by military tribunal under the terms of the Military Commissions Act, passed by the US Congress in 2006. Any trials would be held by military tribunal under the terms of the Military Commissions Act, passed by the US Congress in 2006. The Act set up tribunals to try terror suspects who were not US citizens.
The Act set up tribunals to try terror suspects who are not US citizens. The law is also being challenged by two prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, who say they are being deprived of their rights to have their cases heard by a US civilian court.
An earlier plan for commissions ordered on the authority of the president alone was declared unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court. After the release of hundreds of Guantanamo detainees without charge, about 275 prisoners remain in the detention centre in Cuba. The US says it plans to try about 80 of them.
The latest law is also being challenged - by two prisoners in Guantanamo Bay who say they are being deprived of their right to have their cases heard by a US civilian court. Nineteen men hijacked four planes in the 9/11 attacks. Two planes hit the World Trade Center in New York, another the Pentagon in Washington and the fourth crashed in Pennsylvania.
The US has about 275 prisoners left in the detention centre in Cuba and plans to try about 80 of them.
Nineteen men hijacked four planes in the 9/11 attacks. Two planes hit the World Trade Center in New York, another the Pentagon and the fourth crashed in Pennsylvania.