Charges Referred in Commission Case Against 9/11 Cospirators
DoD Press Release, here, announces:
The Department of Defense announced today that the convening authority, Office of Military Commissions, referred charges to a military commission in the case of “United States v. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin ‘Attash, Ramzi Binalshibh, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi.”
The charges allege that the five accused are responsible for the planning and execution of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, in New York, Washington D.C., and Shanksville, Pa., resulting in the killing of 2,976 people.
The convening authority referred the case to a capital military commission, meaning that, if convicted, the five accused could be sentenced to death. Pursuant to the reforms in the Military Commissions Act of 2009, each of the five accused have been provided, in addition to their detailed defense counsel, learned counsel, possessing specialized knowledge and experience in death penalty cases, to assist them in their defense.
Based on the allegations outlined in the charge sheets, the five accused are charged with terrorism, hijacking aircraft, conspiracy, murder in violation of the law of war, attacking civilians, attacking civilian objects, intentionally causing serious bodily injury, and destruction of property in violation of the law of war. The convening authority has referred all charges to a joint trial.
H/t JNSLP
Does anyone else see the irony that the terrorists are entitled to capital qualified counsel yet active duty soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines are not entitled to capital qualified counsel? The DoD will pay for the terrorists to have civilian capital qualified lawyers; the active duty warriors get squat. Shame, shame, shame!
Charlie, I believe NIMJ made note of that when the last set of commission rules came out a few years ago.
Ama–How you been? Haven’t seen you in a while, new job?
No Man, I’ve been here. Perhaps you missed my comments because you’ve been busy running CAAFlog while Dwight’s on sort-of hiatus?
Not only paid, but all things considered, relatively well paid on an hourly basis. But, like any capital case, they’ll earn every nickel.
And, as Charlie notes, it is shameful that our goverment recognizes the need for “learned counsel” for Commissions, but not for capital courts-martial!