In Guatanamo: trial against 9/11 defendant is apparently to begin in 2021

Nearly 20 years after the 9/11 attack, a date has been set for opening the case against alleged masterminds of the attack.

The trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, also known as KSM, and four other defendants is scheduled to begin on January 11, 2021, reports the New York Times. The men are therefore to be brought before a military court in Guanatamo Bay. They face the death penalty.

The date is mentioned in a ten-page document, writes the "NYT". It should also be listed, which documents the prosecution must hand over to the defense until October 1.

Mohammed and his four co-conspirators are said to have prepared the devastating aircraft attacks against the United States in the late 1990s - Khalid Sheikh Mohammed blamed himself for this.

Among the defendants is Ramsi Binalshibh. He had lived in the so-called Hamburg terror cell with Mohammed Atta, the leader of the 9/11 death pilots.

Osama bin Laden is said to have learned from Mohammed of the plan and given the green light. Already in 2008 charges were filed against the five men. The indictment closed at that time with 2936 names, the victims of the 9/11 attacks.

The trial is suffering torture allegations. After his arrest in March 2003, Mohammed joined the notorious "Detention Site Cobalt" in Afghanistan. The torture began "a few minutes" after Mohammed's arrival at the camp. This is clear from a US Senate report on the 2014 CIA torture methods. He was waterboarded 183 times.

In 2006, Mohammed was transferred to Guantanamo Bay. Only there did he confess his participation in the 9/11 attacks.

The trial is set to take place in front of a military commission specifically set up under former President George W. Bush to try the accused in the "war on terror". It would be the first trial before one of these special tribunals.

Even though the military commissions under President Barack Obama have been reformed, they remain highly controversial. Because the rights of the defendant are limited compared to ordinary courts.

In the September 11 attacks, the terrorists abducted passenger planes and diverted them to the New York World Trade Center and the Pentagon in Washington. Another machine crashed in the US state of Pennsylvania.