: 2 decades later, 9/11 self-professed mastermind awaits trial #IndiaNEWS #News New York: Hours before dawn on March 1, 2003, the US scored its most thrilling victory yet against the plotters of the

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2 decades later, 9/11 self-professed mastermind awaits trial #IndiaNEWS #News
New York: Hours before dawn on March 1, 2003, the US scored its most thrilling victory yet against the plotters of the Sept 11 attacks — the capture of a disheveled Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, hauled away by intelligence agents from a hideout in Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
The global manhunt for al-Qaidas No 3 leader had taken 18 months. But Americas attempt to bring him to justice, in a legal sense, has taken much, much longer. Critics say it has become one of the war on terrors greatest failures.
As Sundays 21st anniversary of the terror attacks approaches, Mohammed and four other men accused of 9/11-related crimes still sit in a US detention center in Guantanamo Bay, their planned trials before a military tribunal endlessly postponed.
The latest setback came last month when pretrial hearings scheduled for early fall were cancelled. The delay was one more in a string of disappointments for relatives of the nearly 3,000 victims of the attack. Theyve long hoped that a trial would bring closure and perhaps resolve unanswered questions.
“Now, Im not sure whats going to happen,� said Gordon Haberman, whose 25-year-old daughter Andrea died after a hijacked plane crashed into the the World Trade Center, a floor above her office.
Hes travelled to Guantanamo four times from his home in West Bend, Wisconsin, to watch the legal proceedings in person, only to leave frustrated.
“Its important to me that America finally gets to the truth about what happened, how it was done,� said Haberman. “I personally want to see this go to trial. If convicted at trial, Mohammed could face the death penalty.
When asked about the case, James Connell, an attorney for one of Mohammeds co-defendants — one accused of transferring money to 9/11 attackers — confirmed reports both sides are still “attempting to reach a pretrial agreement� that could still avoid a trial and result in lesser but still lengthy sentences.
David Kelley, a former U. S. attorney in New York who co-chaired the Justice Departments nationwide investigation into the attacks, called the delays and failure to prosecute “an awful tragedy for the families of the victims. � He called the effort to put Mohammed on trial before a military tribunal, rather than in the regular U. S. court system, “a tremendous failure� that was “as offensive to our Constitution as to our rule of law. � “Its a tremendous blemish on the countrys history,� he said.
The difficulty in holding a trial for Mohammed and other Guantanamo prisoners is partly rooted in what the U. S. did with him after his 2003 capture.
Mohammed and his co-defendants were initially held in secret prisons abroad.

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