Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

Trial of 11 September Mastermind to Launch Next Week | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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The second tower of the World Trade Center bursts into flames after being hit by a hijacked airplane in New York September 11, 2001. REUTERS/Sara K. Schwittek


Washington- On the 26th of January, the trial of the plotter of 11 September attacks will kick off. The mastermind is Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and he is of Pakistani origins.

His trial will take place in Guantanamo, in the presence of journalists and reporters of international channels.

A reliable military source told Asharq Al-Awsat that “the trial will continue until the third of February.” He added that the sentence is unlikely to be issued in the end of preliminary hearing sessions but will be postponed to a later time.

According to the source, this is the first time Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will be allowed to appear before the media as well as it is the first time to witness a trial of one of 11 September’s masterminds after 16 years of the attack.

Asharq Al-Awsat was informed that the trial will be broadcasted live from the courtroom to a receiving channel in Maryland and the U.S. Ministry of Defense will decide later whether to make it public or not.

The military court that the mastermind will come before has accused him several years ago of getting involved in planning for the attacks of September — Other names were included in these accusations.

U.S. President Barack Obama was willing to carry on a public trial for those but his wish was rejected by Republicans and some Democrats as well.

In 2003, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was arrested and was called then the third man in al-Qaeda.

According to a report published by the U.S. Congress, investigating Mohammed did not come up with valuable information and the given he provided detectives with were not enough to arrest a terrorist or stop a terrorist conspiracy.