WASHINGTON: Court officials cancelled a two-day pretrial hearing for suspects in the September 11, 2001, attacks yesterday at the US prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a US Army spokesman said.
The hearing, intended to examine allegations the FBI tried to infiltrate legal defence teams, according to a docket on a Pentagon website. It would have been the first such proceeding since a US Senate report on CIA torture was released last week. No reason was given for the cancellation.
Judge James Pohl, an Army colonel, ruled in July that no conflict of interest arose for defence attorneys from the FBI approaching a security officer for a defence team. The allegations surfaced in April, further delaying a complex, slow-moving case.
Lawyers for accused September 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other suspects want Pohl to determine the extent of FBI contact with defence team members. Mohammed and fellow September 11 suspect Ramzi Binalshibh were among prisoners who underwent torture by the Central Intelligence Agency, according to the report by the Senate Intelligence Committee.
The report on the CIA interrogation programme implemented after the September 11 attacks said Mohammed was subjected to waterboarding, or simulated drowning, “rectal hydration” and sleep deprivation. The 2001 attacks using hijacked airliners killed almost 3,000 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. The defendants face possible death penalties if convicted. Reuters
