PDA

View Full Version : Lawyers Can Question Accused 9/11 Planner



Gold9472
08-22-2009, 09:42 PM
Lawyers can question accused 9/11 planner

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j3mHzJ3lMqx_OFbQia9eiJFSdcCwD9A89FG00

By DEVLIN BARRETT (AP) – 26 minutes ago

WASHINGTON — Lawyers for a Guantanamo Bay detainee will be allowed to question — in writing — accused Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, a federal judge has ruled.

The decision is a setback for government lawyers who had sought to limit the scope of detainee lawyers' challenges to the detention and prosecution of terror suspects.

In a written ruling, Judge Ricardo Urbina says lawyers for detainee Abdul Raheem Ghulam Rabbani can submit written questions about their client to Mohammed. Prosecutors say he worked for Mohammed, but Rabbani's lawyers contend he was just a menial servant, not a part of any terror network.

The ruling says prosecutors may review the answers before delivering them to Rabbani's lawyers to remove any national security information.

Government lawyers had unsuccessfully sought to convince the judge that any questioning of Mohammed by Rabbani's lawyers would risk exposing details of sensitive intelligence programs.

Urbina's 15-page decision says Mohammed may have information that could help Rabbani's case, and allows Rabbani's lawyers to submit "a list of narrowly tailored" questions for Mohammed.

Mohammed has boasted of masterminding the Sept. 11 attacks, and he is the most high-profile detainee of the 229 terror suspects held at the detention facility at the U.S. military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

His possible testimony was a contentious issue in another terrorism case, the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui. The court ruled in that case that some specific parts of Mohammed's statements to investigators could be introduced, but not all.

Urbina's ruling comes in a civil court challenge to Rabbani's detention, but if it is upheld it could have broader implications as the government prepares to bring detainees to trial in federal criminal courts and military commissions.

President Barack Obama has ordered the Guantanamo Bay prison closed by January 2010.