More than two decades since the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, the alleged mastermind and four Al-Qaeda conspirators still await the formal start of any trial. The men are accused of aiding hijackers who killed 2,977 people at the World Trade Center, Pentagon, and a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Since being captured, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Walid Bin Attash, Ramzi Bin Al Shibh, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, and Mustafa Ahmed Adam Al Hawsani have been held at Guantanamo Bay, a maximum-security prison in Cuba.
The five men face charges of conspiracy, attacking civilians, intentionally causing serious bodily injury, murder in violation of the law of war, hijacking or hazarding a vessel or aircraft, and terrorism.
Retired Lieutenant Colonel Don Arias’s younger brother, Adam Arias, worked in the South Tower. On the morning of 9/11, Dan spoke to Adam, who described the terror he was witnessing.
“He’s like, ‘Dude, you’re not going to believe what I’m seeing here. I just saw somebody jump in the north tower, people jumping,’” Don recalled. “And I heard the background of, you know, his co-workers were just here. Gasps of horror, you know? So he says, ‘Listen, man, I gotta go. Gotta go.’ And my last words to him were, ‘Go home.’ As we hung up the phone, I was like, go home. And that was the last time I talked to him.’
Adam was one victim of this attack, and like many 9/11 victims’ family members, Don struggles to grapple with why this case is taking so long to prosecute.
Here’s a breakdown of what has happened since then:
Between 2002-2003, Sheikh Mohammed and four others were captured and held at undisclosed CIA black sites.
While in custody, the men were tortured for information.
“I think the United States should have trusted in its legal system after 9/11 and it didn’t,” said Andy Worthington, a journalist and co-founder of the Close Guantanamo Campaign. “It engaged in a war on terror where it tore up all the rules, domestic and international rules, laws and treaties regarding the treatment of prisoners.”
As a result, multiple political and legal fights ensued.
- June 2006: The Supreme Court issued a 5-3 decision that the Bush administration’s use of military commissions violated Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, which establishes the international law of war.
- September 4, 2006: Sheikh Mohammed and others were transferred to Guantanamo Bay.
- October 17, 2006: President George W. Bush signed the Military Commissions Act of 2006, allowing the U.S. to hold people suspected of terrorism indefinitely.
- June 5, 2008: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four co-conspirators arraigned in court.
Then countless pre-trial motions followed.
“You have defense teams who are saying, ‘We can’t have a fair trial unless we bring out all the evidence of everything that has happened,’ and the prosecution still trying to avoid all measures of torture,” Worthington said.
In addition to legal and political fights, there were countless personnel changes. Judges retired or recused themselves, lawyers stepped down, and new presidents took office.
Immediately after President Barack Obama took office in 2009, he signed executive orders to close Guantanamo Bay. He also released the so-called “torture memos” and rescinded harsh interrogation practices carried out during the Bush administration.
Obama also suspended military commissions and tasked then-Attorney General Eric Holder with trying the 9/11 suspects in a federal court.
That move did not sit well with New Yorkers, politicians, and many 9/11 families.
“If military tribunals are good enough for our soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, they’re good enough to lead Sheikh Mohammed, and people like him,” Arias said.
Then Congress intervened and passed legislation preventing the Obama administration from prosecuting war criminals in a federal court.
“Unfortunately, members of Congress have intervened and imposed restrictions blocking the administration from bringing Guantanamo detainees to trial in the United States,” former Attorney General Eric Holder said.
As a result, the Obama administration reinstated military commissions.
“And what’s been happening since then, as you know, as Obama has given way to Trump, and now we’ve got President Biden…the hearings at Guantanamo have just gone round and round like a kind of Groundhog Day,” Worthington said.
The pandemic also played a role in slowing down the judicial process. For nearly two years, attorneys had limited access to the facility.
Pre-trial hearings resumed again leading up to the 20-year anniversary of the attack.
“Every time there’s a hearing, you know, we’ve been emotionally waterboarded for 20 years,” said Arias.
A trial is not expected until some time in 2022. If convicted, all men could face the death penalty.
