Key 9/11 suspects to be tried in New York

WASHINGTON - US Attorney-General Eric Holder announced Friday that five Guantanamo Bay detainees with alleged ties to the 9/11 attacks, including accused mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, will be transferred to New York to go on trial in civilian court.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Ramzi Bin al-Shibh, Walid bin Attash, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali and Mustafa Ahmed Al-Hawsawi will all be transferred to the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.
After eight years of delay, those allegedly responsible for the attacks of September 11th will finally face justice, Holder said.
He said he expected all five to be tried together and for prosecutors to seek the death penalty. The trial would be open to the public, although some portions that deal with classified information may be closed, Holder said.
Based on all of my experience and based on all of the recommendations and the great work and the research that has been done, I am quite confident that the outcomes in these cases will be successful, he said.
He also expressed confidence that an impartial jury would be found to ensure a fair trial in New York.
Holder also announced that five other detainees held at the US military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, will be sent to military commissions for trial. They were identified as Omar Khadr, Mohammed Kamin, Ibrahim al Qosi, Noor Uthman Muhammed and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri.
Al-Nashiri is an accused mastermind of the deadly 2000 bombing of the USS Cole; Khadr is a Canadian charged with the 2002 murder of a US military officer in Afghanistan. Khadr was 15 years old when he was captured in July 2002.
Holder said a venue for the military commissions has not been set.
AFP adds: Relatives of the attacks victims lambasted the decision to try the suspected plotters in the civilian just blocks from Ground Zero.
We feel that thats a terrible mistake, said Ed Kowalski, a director of the 9/11 Families for a Secure America Foundation as news of the decision emerged.
To allow a terrorist and a war criminal the opportunity of having US constitutional protections is a wrong thing to do and its never been done before.
Among those killed in the World Trade Centre towers was James Gadiel, 23, whose father Peter is president of the 9/11 Families for a Secure America Foundation.
He strongly condemned Obamas decision to transfer Khalid and four others from the Guantanamo detention facility to New York City.
This decision is simply insane, he told AFP. Im going to say this president is either insane or hes on somebody elses side other than the US.
Kowalski also warned that Khalid, who has admitted involvement in dozens of attacks, would use an open courtroom to make inflammatory statements.
But Valerie Lucznikowska, a member of September Eleven Families for Peaceful Tomorrows whose nephew Adam was killed in the World Trade Centre, welcomed the administrations decision.
Theyre going to be here in New York where people who suffered as a result of their actions can actually go and see them, she told AFP.
I want to see these trials and also I want to see that these trials are transparent not only to me but to the whole world.