Washington, April 05: The alleged mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks has been stripped his right to be tried at a civilian courtroom and will instead, appear before a military commission at Guantanamo.
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. will announce on Monday that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other accused conspirators will face charges before a panel of military officers, a law enforcement official said on Monday.
The decision is a reversal after Holder said on November 2009 that he had decided that the accused should be tried in a civilian court in New York City.
Shortly after he came to office in 2009, US President Barrack Obama announced that he was closing Guantanamo Bay and was willing to try the conspirators in a federal civilian court.
But the decision to place suspects in a New York City courtroom was met with fierce resistance from local residents who said they did not want to deal with another potential threat in downtown Manhattan.
The Monday decision comes on the same day that the Supreme Court refused to step in and hear appeals from Guantanamo detainees challenging their detention.
Analysts say the move signals that the US highest court does not want to get involved with how the lower court is dealing with legal issues involving detainees.
Mohammed was captured in Pakistan in March 2003 and sent to the US detention center in Cuba in 2006.
He has allegedly confessed to organizing, planning, follow-up and execution of the 9/11 operation which killed more than 3,000 people.
——–Agencies