Al Hawsawi Files Motion to Dismiss
http://www.lawfareblog.com/2012/05/a...on-to-dismiss/
By Raffaela Wakeman
Tuesday, May 1, 2012 at 2:38 PM
In the 9/11 military commission case, counsel for Mustafa al Hawsawi has filed a motion to dismiss, which was joined by all of his co-defendants in the trial. Here is the press release that came from al Hawsawiâs counsel, along with the redacted motion.
The text of the press release reads as follows:Last week, lawyers for Mustafa al-Hawsawi filed a motion, joined by all 9-11 defendants, which asserts that the Military Court lacks authority to proceed with trial due to critical omissions in the past year during the death penalty authorization period, known in the commissions as the pre-referral stage.
The defective referral motion highlights how defense efforts to develop âsignificant mitigating factorsâ have been thwarted by the ongoing deliberate and systematic interference with attorney client communications. The rules require the charging authority, Mr. Bruce McDonald, to consider those factors before authorizing a death penalty prosecution. Defense preparation efforts have also been crippled due to the lack of access to classified evidence and essential resources, such as cleared personnel, Arabic translators and investigators.
âThe odds continue to be silently and deliberately stacked against a fair process. These men are represented on paper only, not in substance. We have been stripped of our ability to communicate and denied essential resources to carry out our duties,â said Commander Walter Ruiz, a military lawyer representing Mr. Hawsawi.