9/11 plotters face death penalty in trial near 'Ground Zero'

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks will be tried in a civilian court blocks from where Al-Qaeda hijackers crashed two airliners into the World Trade Center, the US government announced Friday.

Attorney General Eric Holder said prosecutors would seek the death penalty against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four suspected co-plotters, who are held at Guantanamo Bay but will be moved to a New York prison ahead of their trial.

"After eight years of delay, those allegedly responsible for the attacks of September 11 will finally face justice," Holder said, without giving a date.

"They will be brought to New York to answer to their alleged crimes in a courthouse just blocks away from where the twin towers once stood."

Five more Guantanamo detainees, including Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, accused of plotting the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole warship off Yemen at the cost of 17 US sailors, will be tried before military commissions, he said.

Profiles of alleged 9/11 plotters. The military tribunals were heavily criticized after being set up by former president George W. Bush in late 2001, but have since been reformed to grant defendants more rights to evidence and render information gained by torture inadmissible.

Friday's announcement, key to President Barack Obama's plans to shutter Guantanamo by January, was blasted by families of the nearly 3,000 victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

"To allow a terrorist and a war criminal the opportunity of having US constitutional protections is a wrong thing to do and it's never been done before," said Ed Kowalski of the 9/11 Families for a Secure America Foundation.

Peter Gadiel, who lost his 23-year-old son James in the north tower of the World Trade Center, accused Obama of trying to set up some kind of "show trial" that would end up being "a circus."

"I'm going to say this president is either insane or he's on somebody else's side other than the United States. Bringing them to New York is a separate issue which is equally insane because of the security problems in lower Manhattan."

The decision also drew flak from Obama's Republican foes in Congress, who have mounted a vigorous campaign to block the transfer of Guantanamo detainees to US soil.

Senate Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called it "a step backwards for the security of our country and puts Americans unnecessarily at risk."

The move also signaled a major shift in the treatment of "war on terror" suspects and raised serious legal questions about evidence potentially tainted by harsh interrogation techniques such as waterboarding.

Sheikh Mohammed is known to have been subjected to simulated drowning 183 times during his years in US custody.

9/11 families say New York trial for plotters 'terrible mistake' Holder, citing information not yet made public, asserted the harsh interrogation techniques would not prevent a "successful" outcome of the trials.

He also assured that a New York jury could still be impartial and said all legal requirements would be met before the suspects are brought onto US soil, with Congress being given a 45-day warning.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates hailed the move as a major step forward as Obama seeks to close the detention center at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba by a self-imposed January 22 deadline.

"Bringing terrorists to justice is an integral part of our national security. The reform of military commissions and today's announcement are important steps in that direction," he said.

Officials told AFP that up to 65 of the 215 remaining inmates at Guantanamo are ready to be tried in one forum or another and Holder said to expect more announcements in "the very near future."

Another 69 Guantanamo inmates are cleared for release but struggling to find countries to take them in. The situation regarding the remainder -- less than 100 -- remains unclear.

9/11 suspects face angry reception in New York Greg Craig, the man charged by the White House with shutting Guantanamo, resigned Friday after criticism of his handling of the closure.

Earlier military commission charges against Sheikh Mohammed and co-defendants Ramzi Binalshibh, Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, Walid bin Attash and Mustapha al-Hawsawi were suspended when Obama launched his sweeping policy review.

In addition to the September 11 attacks, Sheikh Mohammed has claimed some 30 operations against the West, including the 2002 beheading in Pakistan of US journalist Daniel Pearl.

After his March 1, 2003 capture in Pakistan, the Kuwaiti-born suspected Al-Qaeda mastermind was handed over to US agents who held him in secret prisons for over three years before sending him to Guantanamo in September 2006.