KHALID SHEIKH Mohammed, described by the 9/11 Commission Report as “the principal architect of the 9/11 attacks”, will stand trial in a civilian court in New York, just blocks away from Ground Zero, US attorney general Eric Holder announced yesterday.
Four other men accused of helping to plan the September 11th, 2001, attacks, which killed 2,973 people, will be transferred with Mr Mohammed from the top-secret camp-seven section of the US military prison in Guantánamo, Cuba, to stand trial with him.
“I fully expect to direct prosecutors to seek the death penalty against each of the alleged 9/11 conspirators,” Mr Holder said, adding that he was confident unbiased jurors could be found.
Mr Holder expressed “great confidence”, based on evidence that has not yet been released, that the men would be convicted.
The transfer is likely to take weeks as the administration must first report to Congress and file a 45-day notice.
The defence may argue that evidence obtained under torture is inadmissible. A 2005 justice department memo released by the Obama administration revealed that Mr Mohammed was waterboarded – a process that simulates drowning – 183 times.
US president Barack Obama has denounced waterboarding as torture.
Mr Mohammed told interrogators that he conceived of the September 11th attacks in 1996, when he first discussed the plot with Osama bin Laden. He allegedly oversaw the financing and training of the hijackers who flew four commercial airliners into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania.
Mr Obama said he was “absolutely convinced that Mohammed would be subject to the most exacting demands of justice. The American people insist on it, and my administration will insist on it.”
Mr Obama promised to shut down Guantánamo by January 22nd, 2010, a deadline US officials admit they are unlikely to meet.
Congress objected to the administration’s request for $80 million (€53.6 million) to cover the cost of the shutdown, and US authorities are reluctant to have the 215 prisoners still held at Guantánamo transferred to the US, citing fears it will endanger US citizens.
Up to 40 detainees should eventually be tried in the US. Another 90 are slated for repatriation or resettlement in other countries.
That leaves approximately 75 detainees who are considered too dangerous to free, but who cannot be prosecuted for lack of evidence or limits on the use of classified material.
Mr Holder’s decision was seen as an important step towards fulfilling the promise to shut down Guantánamo, and as a repudiation of the ad-hoc military court system established by the Bush administration in its “war on terror”.
"The transfer of these cases is a huge victory for restoring due process and the rule of law, as well as repairing America's international standing," Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, told the Washington Post.
“Justice can only be served in our tried and true courts.”
But Republicans were quick to criticise the move.
“The Obama administration’s irresponsible decision to prosecute the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks in New York city puts the interest of liberal special-interest groups before the safety and security of the American people,” House Republican leader John Boehner said in a statement.
Mr Boehner seemed to allude to the problem of evidence obtained under torture: “The possibility that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his co-conspirators could be found ‘not guilty’ due to some legal technicality just blocks from Ground Zero should give every American pause.”
Mr Mohammed’s co-accused are Ramzi Binalshibh, Tawfiq bin Attash, Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali and Ammar al-Baluchi.