Hearing for accused 9/11 plotters weighs U.S. gov't meddling charges
By Tom Ramstack
FORT MEADE, Md., Feb 11 (Reuters) - A U.S. military court on Wednesday tried to assess whether government agents interfered with the trial of five men charged with the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States by spying on defense attorneys and their clients.
The judge halted the pre-trial hearing at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, military prison on Monday after one of the defendants said his interpreter had worked at a secret CIA prison.
When the hearing resumed on Wednesday, defense attorneys contended the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Central Intelligence Agency had planted Arabic interpreters on the defense team, bugged conversations between the attorneys and their clients and questioned their support staff.
Defense attorneys told Army Colonel Judge James Pohl the apparent spying interfered with the defendants' constitutional rights to a fair trial in the slow-moving death penalty cases.
"We're in the realm of a Sixth Amendment violation here," said David Nevin, attorney for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the confessed mastermind of the 2001 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.
The Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution includes a right to a fair trial and representation by counsel.
Pohl halted the trial after Ramzi Binalshibh, a 42-year-old Yemeni, said he recognized defense team interpreter Louay Al-Nazer from his time in a secret CIA prison.
Three other detainees have also identified the interpreter from a secret prison.
Among proposals the judge is considering is severing Binalshibh's trial from the joint trial for the other five. Binalshibh is accused of being a key facilitator of the Sept. 11 attacks and his defense team appears to have been a main FBI target.
Prosecutors urged Pohl not to split off his case, saying the evidence against him is closely linked to the other defendants. Defense attorneys asked for more time to investigate the alleged CIA infiltration.
The hearing is the first in the case since the December release of a Senate committee report detailing torture methods used under a secret U.S. detention and interrogation program.
Defense attorneys claimed in April that FBI agents bugged rooms where lawyers met with clients. They also said agents questioned support staff about the defense attorneys and investigated at least one of the lawyers.
Pohl stopped that hearing and ordered a Justice Department investigation.
The Guantanamo hearing was monitored by media over a closed-circuit broadcast at Fort Meade, Maryland. (Editing by Ian Simpson and Eric Walsh)
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