US senators urge probe into 9/11 suspect's claims of abuse

http://rawstory.com/news/afp/US_sena..._03162007.html

Published: Friday March 16, 2007

Two US senators who witnessed the questioning of the suspected mastermind of the September 11 attacks have urged officials to investigate his allegations of being badly treated.

Democratic Senator Carl Levin and his Republican colleague Lindsay Graham revealed in a joint statement that they were allowed to watch a hearing for Khaled Sheikh Mohammed at the US military base in Guantanamo Bay via a video link in an adjoining room.

Mohammed confessed to 31 acts of terror or plots including the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, according to a transcript of the hearing released by the Pentagon this week.

The senators agreed the transcript of the proceedings, which lasted more than an hour on Saturday, March 10, was accurate.

And they confirmed that Mohammed, who has no right to a lawyer and was represented by a military officer, had handed the panel a written statement "alleging mistreatment during his captivity prior to arriving at Guantanamo."

This statement has been censored and was not released along with the transcript of his hearing.

"The panel said the allegations will be submitted to appropriate authorities. Allegations of prisoner mistreatment must be taken seriously and properly investigated. To do otherwise would reflect poorly on our nation," the lawmakers said in a joint statement.

They also agreed that a hearing at which the detainee admits the allegations against him was not "the true test" of a process which would be in "a case in which the detainee disputes those allegations."

Mohammed, thought to be the number three leader of the Al-Qaeda network, told the panel that he had planned the September 11, 2001 attacks from "A to Z".

He also claimed to have been behind a host of other attacks and plots, most of which were never realized, such as assassination attempts on former US presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, and the late Pope John Paul II.

He also said he had personally beheaded US journalist Daniel Pearl, who was abducted in January 2002 in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi and then killed.

"It was apparent that Khaled Sheikh Mohammed views himself as a warrior, motivated by religious teachings, and seeks his place in history," the senators said.

They added they would "continue to review the process and will explore possible ways to improve this process through congressional action."

Mohammed has been held in controversial circumstances, most of the time in complete secrecy, since his capture in Pakistan in 2003. He has no access to a lawyer and allegations have been made that he was tortured while in US custody.

Human Rights Watch called Thursday for the United States to release Mohammed's separate statement in which he claims to have been tortured while held by the CIA.

No media or human rights monitors were allowed to watch the hearing.