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9/11 architect to be tried
07/09/2006 08:36 - (SA)
Washington - US President George W Bush said on Wednesday that the supposed architect of the September 11 terrorist strikes had been moved from secret CIA custody to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for eventual trial.
Bush, acknowledging for the first time that the US Central Intelligence Agency runs covert prisons overseas, said Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and 13 other top al-Qaeda suspects would be tried as soon as the US congress approves military commissions for that purpose.
"It has been necessary to move these individuals to an environment where they can be held in secret, questioned by experts and, when appropriate, prosecuted for terrorist acts," he said in a speech at the White House.
"As soon as congress acts to authorise the military commissions I have proposed, the men our intelligence officials believe orchestrated the deaths of nearly 3 000 Americans on September 11, 2001 can face justice," Bush said.
'Presumed innocent'
The 14 suspects included Mohammed, the self-proclaimed architect of the September 11 attacks; Abu Zubaydah, thought to be a top aide to al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden; and presumed September 11 conspirator Ramzi bin al-Shibh.
Also among them was Hambali, allegedly a key member of the Al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) extremist network blamed for numerous Indonesian bomb attacks, including the October 2002 Bali bombings which killed 202 people.
Bush said that the International Committee of the Red Cross will have access to them, and the detainees, in turn, will have access to legal counsel. He stressed that "they will be presumed innocent".
With the transfer, Bush said, the secret CIA programme now holds no prisoners but will be kept operational in order to continue to detain and interrogate suspected extremists.
Torture
Bush staunchly defended the programme, which created tensions with some European allies when a newspaper revealed its existence in 2005, as well as "tough" interrogation practices that critics have denounced as torture.
Bush said that CIA questioners sometimes needed to abandon traditional approaches and that information extracted by other means had helped thwart several terrorist plots.
"I cannot describe the specific methods used," he said in a speech at the White House. "If I did, it would help the terrorists learn how to resist questioning and to keep information from us that we need to prevent new attacks on our country."
"But I can say the procedures were tough and they were safe and lawful and necessary," he said.
"The United States does not torture," he said. "I have not authorised it, and I will not authorise it."
- AFP
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