Two decades after the 9/11 attacks and nine years after war crimes charges were filed, the pretrial wrangling in the case against accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other defendants resumed Tuesday after a long Covid shutdown. It marked KSM's first court appearance in more than a year.
"Khalid Shaikh Mohammed offers to testify in New York federal trial". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on February 22, 2015. Retrieved June 13, 2015. ^ Klasfeld, Adam. "KSM Would Have Been a Dud in al-Qaida Case". Courthouse News Services. Archived from the original on May 8, 2014.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammad has participated as a witness in the trials of two alleged al-Qaeda members, Zacarias Moussaoui and Salim Hamdan. Los Angeles Times reporter Richard Serrano wrote:
Archived (PDF) from the original on May 9, 2009. Retrieved November 18, 2009. ^ "Despite Reports, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Was Not Waterboarded 183 Times". FOXNews.com. April 7, 2010. Archived from the original on February 24, 2011. Retrieved August 13, 2010. ^ "Khalid Sheikh Mohammed confession transcript" (PDF). www.defenselink.mil. March 10, 2007.
In April 2011, Attorney General Eric Holder announced that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed would be tried under one of these new commissions. Brig. Gen. Mark Martins was appointed to prosecute Mohammed and his co-defendants.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is shown in this file photograph during his arrest on March 1, 2003. Wright’s client, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, was captured in Pakistan in 2003 and held at various CIA black sites before being sent to Guantánamo in 2006.
When he followed up, Wright learned that even if he were to attend the graduate program, upon completion he would not be reassigned to U.S. v. Mohammed.
Mohammed—along with three co-defendants—faces trial before a military commission at the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base for his role in the attacks, and faces a sentence of death if convicted. Wright spent nearly three years working between 50 and 60 hours a week as a Judge Advocate General (or JAG) on the KSM case.
Nevin is the lead attorney on the case, but he views Wright as a peer and central member of the defense team, not just a junior lawyer he’s been assigned by the Army: “He is an excellent lawyer. A great team manager, organizer, thinker, just an incredible asset.”.
The Mohammed defense team has explored other avenues that would allow Wright to remain permanently on the case. They have requested the Convening Authority—which authorizes funds for the various legal teams—to appoint Wright as a civilian, but to date they have declined to do so. Wright and Nevin have also asked the trial court judge, Colonel James Pohl, to order that a civilian position be created to keep Major Wright on the Mohammed defense team. Pohl has questioned whether he had the authority to do this.
11, 2001 terrorist attacks, isn’t expected to begin until next year. However, his hard-fighting defense lawyer, David Nevin, begins a six-day session of legal arguments on Thursday in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, that could result in the exclusion ...
Harris was acquitted in 1993; Weaver, who was represented by renowned Wyoming trial lawyer Gerry Spence, was acquitted on all but one count. Both defendants subsequently won civil payouts from the government. Spence argued his theory of the Ruby Ridge case as a botched federal raid.
Until now, Nevin’s most prominent case was his successful defense of Kevin Harris, who was tried along with separatist Randy Weaver in the killing of a U.S. marshal during a standoff at Weaver’s remote home in Ruby Ridge, Idaho.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Fast Facts. In this courtroom drawing, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed sits in court at the US Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Here is a look at the life of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, one of the alleged 9/11 co-conspirators.
1996 - Mohammed is indicted on seven counts of terror conspiracy in the Southern District of New York for his alleged involvement in a failed plot to blow up as many as a dozen American commercial airliners over the Pacific. September 11, 2001 - Terror attacks.
September 6, 2006 - The United States acknowledges Mohammed has been held at a secret overseas CIA prison and is being transferred to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba where he will face a trial before a military commission.
December 18, 2020 - Military judge Col. Douglas K. Watkins extends litigation deadlines, which will postpone the start date of the trail. This follows the recusal and resignation of two judges earlier in 2020, and delays brought about by the coronavirus pandemic.
After a status conference Sunday, it became clear that even less may happen this week than expected. A senior lawyer on one of the legal teams is absent for unspecified personal reasons, and it's not clear that substantive arguments can proceed.
Stung by revelations of torture, the CIA and the military long ago stopped holding enemy combatants for more than a few days. The U.S. instead has relied on allies to jail those captured on the battlefield. Critics say it has become easier to kill terror suspects with drone strikes than for America to capture and hold them.