Khalid Sheikh Mohammed

Last updated

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed after capture (cropped).jpg
Mohammed in 2003 after his capture.
Born (1965-04-14) 14 April 1965 (age 59) [1]
Balochistan, Pakistan or Kuwait
Arrested1 March 2003
Rawalpindi, Pakistan
Detained at  Guantanamo Bay detention camp
ISN 10024
Charge(s)
StatusDetained
Children8
Relatives Zahid Al-Sheikh (brother), Ramzi Yousef and Ammar al-Baluchi (nephews)

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (sometimes also spelled Shaykh; [2] also known by at least 50 pseudonyms; [3] born 14 April 1965), often known by his initials KSM, is a Pakistani terrorist, mechanical engineer and the former Head of Propaganda for the pan-Islamist militant group al-Qaeda. He is currently held by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp under terrorism-related charges. He was named as "the principal architect of the 9/11 attacks" in the 2004 9/11 Commission Report . [4]

Contents

Mohammed was a member of Osama bin Laden's Pan-Islamist terrorist organization al-Qaeda, leading al-Qaeda's propaganda operations from around 1999 until late 2001. Mohammed was captured on 1 March 2003, in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi by a combined operation of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Immediately after his capture, Mohammad was extraordinarily rendered to secret CIA prison sites in Afghanistan, then Poland, where he was interrogated and tortured by U.S. operatives. [5] By December 2006, he had been transferred to military custody at Guantanamo Bay detention camp.

In March 2007, after being subjected to torture during interrogations, Mohammed confessed to masterminding the 11 September attacks; the Richard Reid shoe bombing attempt to blow up an airliner; the 2002 Bali bombings in Indonesia; the 1993 World Trade Center bombing; the murder of Daniel Pearl and various foiled attacks as well as numerous other crimes. [6] [7] [8] He was charged in February 2008 with war crimes and murder by a U.S. military commission at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, which could carry the death penalty if convicted. In 2012, a former military prosecutor criticized the proceedings as insupportable due to confessions gained under torture. [7] A 2008 decision by the United States Supreme Court had also drawn into question the legality of the methods used to gain such admissions and the admissibility of such admissions as evidence in a criminal proceeding. [9]

On 30 August 2019, a military judge set a trial date of 11 January 2021, for Mohammed's death penalty trial. [10] His trial was further postponed on 18 December 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [11] Mohammed's trial restarted on 7 September 2021 [12] but was postponed again for years of plea deal negotiations. [13] On 31 July 2024, Mohammed agreed to plead guilty in exchange for a life sentence rather than a death-penalty trial. [14] His plea deal was revoked by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin two days later. [15] [16] In November 2024, a military judge ruled that plea deal is “valid and enforceable.” [17] [18]

Early life and education

Mohammed was born on 14 April 1965, [19] in Balochistan, West Pakistan or Kuwait. [1] [20] [21] [22] His father, Shaikh Muhammad Ali Dustin al-Baluchi, [23] [24] was a Deobandi imam in Al Ahmadi, who moved with his family from Balochistan to Kuwait in the 1950s. [25] [26] His mother was Halema Mohammed. [24] Mohammed was raised in Badawiya, a neighborhood of the Fahaheel suburb of Kuwait City. [26] Mohammed is the uncle of Ramzi Yousef, who was convicted on terrorism charges for his part in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and Ammar Al Baluchi, who is accused of involvement in multiple terror plots.

According to U.S. federal documents, in 1982 he had heard Abdul Rasul Sayyaf's speech in which a call for jihad against the Soviets was declared. [1] At age 16, he joined the Muslim Brotherhood. [27] After graduating from high school in 1983, Mohammad travelled to the United States and enrolled in Chowan University in Murfreesboro, North Carolina. He later transferred to North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University and received a Bachelor of Science (BS) in mechanical engineering in 1986. [1] [28]

The following year, he went to Peshawar, Pakistan, [1] where he and his brothers, including Zahed, joined the mujahideen forces engaged in the Soviet–Afghan War. He attended the Sada training camp run by Sheikh Abdallah Azzam, and after that he worked for the magazine al-Bunyan al-Marsous, produced by Sayyaf's rebel group, the Islamic Union for the Liberation of Afghanistan. In 1992, he received a master's degree in Islamic Culture and History through correspondence classes from Punjab University in Pakistan. [1] By 1993, Mohammad had married and moved his family to Qatar, where he took a position as project engineer with the Qatari Ministry of Electricity and Water. [1] He began to travel to different countries from that time onward.

The United States 9/11 Commission Report notes that, "By his own account, KSM's animus toward the United States stemmed not from his experiences there as a student, but rather from his violent disagreement with U.S. foreign policy favoring Israel." [29] However, on August 29, 2009, The Washington Post reported from U.S. intelligence sources that Mohammed's time in the U.S. contributed to his radicalization.

"KSM's limited and negative experience in the United States—which included a brief jail stay because of unpaid bills—almost certainly helped propel him on his path to becoming a terrorist," according to this intelligence summary. "He stated that his contact with Americans, while minimal, confirmed his view that the United States was a debauched and racist country." [30]

Philippines 1994–1995

Mohammed was in the Philippines in late 1994 and early 1995; he then identified as a Saudi or a Qatari plywood exporter and used the aliases "Abdul Majid" and "Salem Ali." [31] [32]

Qatar, avoiding arrest

In early 1996, Mohammed returned to Afghanistan to avoid capture by U.S. authorities. [33] In his flight from Qatar, he was sheltered by Sheikh Abdullah Al Thani, who was the Qatari Minister of Religious Affairs in 1996. [34] [35] [36] [37] [38]

Alleged terrorist activities

Operation Bojinka

Mohammed traveled to the Philippines in 1994 to work with his nephew Ramzi Yousef on the Bojinka plot, a Manila-based plot to destroy 12 commercial airliners flying routes between the United States, East Asia, and Southeast Asia. The 9/11 Commission Report says that "this marked the first time KSM took part in the actual planning of a terrorist operation." [39]

Using airline timetables, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Ramzi Yousef devised a scheme whereby five men could, in a single day, board 12 flights—two each for three of the men, three each for the other two—assemble and deposit their bombs and exit the planes, leaving timers to ignite the bombs up to several days afterward. By the time the bombs exploded, the men would be far away and far from reasonable suspicion. The math was simple: 12 flights with at least 400 people per flight. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 5,000 deaths. It would be a day of glory for them, calamity for the Americans they supposed would fill the aircraft. [40]

Bojinka plans included renting or buying a Cessna, packing it with explosives and crash landing it into CIA headquarters, with a backup plan to hijack the twelfth airliner in the air and use that instead. This information was reported in detail to the U.S. at the time.[ citation needed ]

In December 1994, Yousef had engaged in a test of a bomb on Philippine Airlines Flight 434 using only about ten percent of the explosives that were to be used in each of the bombs to be planted on U.S. airliners. The test resulted in the death of a Japanese national on board a flight from the Philippines to Japan. Mohammed conspired with Yousef in the plot until it was uncovered on 6 January 1995. Yousef was captured 7 February of that same year.[ citation needed ]

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was indicted on terrorism charges in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York in January 1996 for his alleged involvement in Operation Bojinka, [41] and was subsequently on 10 October 2001 listed as one of the FBI's 22 Most Wanted Terrorists. [42]

Relationship with Osama bin Laden

By the time the Bojinka plot was discovered, Mohammed had returned to Qatar and his job as a project engineer at the country's Ministry of Electricity and Water. He traveled in 1995 to Sudan, Yemen, Malaysia, and Brazil to visit elements of the worldwide jihadist community, although no evidence connects him to specific terrorist actions in any of those locations. On his trip to Sudan, he attempted to meet with Osama bin Laden, who was at the time living there, aided by Sudanese political leader Hassan al-Turabi. After the U.S. asked the Qatari government to arrest Mohammed in January 1996, he fled to Afghanistan, where he renewed his alliance with Abdul Rasul Sayyaf. Later that year, he formed a working relationship with Bin Laden, who had settled there.

Bin Laden and his colleagues relocated their operations to Afghanistan at this time. Mohammed Atef, bin Laden's chief of operations and also known at the time as Abu Hafs al-Masri, arranged a meeting between bin Laden and Mohammed in Tora Bora sometime in mid-1996, in which Mohammed outlined a plan that would eventually become the quadruple hijackings in 2001. [43] Bin Laden urged Mohammed to become a full-fledged member of al-Qaeda, but he continued to refuse such a commitment until around early 1999, after the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam. [44]

In 1997, Mohammed moved his family from Iran to Karachi, Pakistan. [45] That year, he tried unsuccessfully to join mujahideen leader Ibn al-Khattab in Chechnya, another area of special interest to Mohammed. Unable to travel to Chechnya, he returned to Afghanistan. He ultimately accepted bin Laden's invitation to move to Kandahar and join al-Qaeda as a full-fledged member. Eventually, he became leader of al-Qaeda's media committee.

Plan for 11 September 2001 attacks

The first hijack plan that Mohammed presented to the leadership of al-Qaeda called for several airplanes on both US east and west coasts to be hijacked and flown into targets. His plan evolved from an earlier foiled plot known as the Bojinka plot (see above). Bin Laden rejected some potential targets suggested by Mohammed, such as the U.S. Bank Tower in Los Angeles, [46] as he wished to simplify the attacks. [47]

In late 1998 or early 1999, bin Laden gave approval for Mohammed to proceed to organize the plot. [44] Meetings in early 1999 took place with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Osama bin Laden, and his military chief, Mohammed Atef. [44] Bin Laden led the plot and provided financial support. [44] He was also involved in selecting the participants, including choosing Mohamed Atta as the lead hijacker. [48] Khalid Sheikh provided operational support, such as selecting targets and helping arrange travel for the hijackers. [44] Atef directed the actions of the hijackers. [49]

After Atta was chosen as the leader of the mission, "he met with Bin Laden to discuss the targets: the World Trade Center, which represented the U.S. economy; the Pentagon, a symbol of the U.S. military; and the U.S. Capitol, the perceived source of U.S. policy in support of Israel. The White House was also on the list, as Bin Laden considered it a political symbol and wanted to attack it as well." If any pilot could not reach his intended target, he was to crash the plane. [50]

According to testimony by Philip Zelikow, bin Laden was motivated by a desire to punish the US for supporting Israel and wanted to move up the attack date. Mohammed argued for ensuring the teams were prepared.

[Bin Laden] allegedly told KSM it would be sufficient simply to down the planes and not hit specific targets. KSM stood his ground, arguing that the operation would not be successful unless the pilots were fully trained and the hijacking teams were larger. [51]

In a 2002 interview with Al Jazeera journalist Yosri Fouda, Mohammed admitted that he and Ramzi bin al-Shibh were involved in the "Holy Tuesday operation". [52] ("Holy Tuesday operation" was the terrorists' code name for the 9/11 attacks, and the attacks actually did take place on a Tuesday.) [53] KSM, however, disputes this claim via his Personal Representative: "I never stated to the Al Jazeera reporter that I was the head of the al-Qaeda military committee." [54]

In an April 2002 interview with Al Jazeera correspondent Yosri Fouda, KSM, and Ramzi bin al-Shibh described the preparations for 9/11 attacks and said that they first thought of "striking at a couple of nuclear facilities" in the U.S. but then "it was eventually decided to leave out nuclear targets for now." [55]

Daniel Pearl murder

According to a CNN interview with intelligence expert Rohan Gunaratna, "Daniel Pearl was going in search of the al-Qaeda network that was operational in Karachi, and it was at the instruction of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed that Daniel Pearl was killed." [56] On 12 October 2006, Time magazine reported that "KSM confessed under CIA interrogation that he personally committed the murder." [57] On 15 March 2007, the Pentagon stated that Mohammed had confessed to the murder. [58] The statement quoted Mohammed as saying, "I decapitated with my blessed right hand the head of the American Jew, Daniel Pearl, in the city of Karachi, Pakistan. For those who would like to confirm, there are pictures of me on the Internet holding his head." [59] This confession was gained under torture, and Mohammed listed many other crimes at the same time. [8] [7]

According to an investigative report published in January 2011 by Georgetown University, the Federal Bureau of Investigation used vein matching to determine that the perpetrator in the video of the killing of Pearl was most likely Mohammed, notably through identifying a "bulging vein" running across his hand. [60] Concerned that the confession obtained through waterboarding would not hold up in court, federal officials used this forensic evidence to bolster their case. [61]

Capture, interrogation, and torture

On 11 September 2002, members of Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) claimed to have killed or captured Sheikh Mohammed during a raid in Karachi that resulted in bin al-Shibh's capture. This claim was then subsequently proven as baseless. [62]

Mohammed was captured in Rawalpindi, Pakistan (about 20 kilometres southwest of Islamabad), on 1 March 2003, by the Pakistani ISI, possibly in a joint action with the CIA's Special Activities Division paramilitary operatives [63] and officers of the American Diplomatic Security Service. He has been in U.S custody since that time.

Initially, Mohammed was held in the CIA's Salt Pit (Cobalt) prison in Afghanistan. After just a "few minutes" of questioning at Cobalt, he was subject to "enhanced interrogation techniques." He was slapped, grabbed in the face, placed in stress positions, placed in standing sleep deprivation, doused with water, and subjected to rectal rehydration multiple times, without a determination of medical need. [64]

During 2003, Mohammad was held at a secret CIA prison, or black site, in Poland, where the CIA waterboarded him at least 183 times. [5] He was then transferred to another secret CIA prison in Romania. [65]

Mugshot of Mohammed shortly after being transferred to the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in September 2006. The photo was taken from a cell-assignment chart at the covert high-security Camp 7, and was obtained by reporters of McClatchyDC. Ksmchart.jpg
Mugshot of Mohammed shortly after being transferred to the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in September 2006. The photo was taken from a cell-assignment chart at the covert high-security Camp 7, and was obtained by reporters of McClatchyDC.

In September 2006, the U.S. government announced it had moved Mohammed from a secret CIA prison (or black site) to the military custody at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. [66]

The Red Cross, Human Rights Watch and Mohammed consider that the harsh interrogation techniques, including waterboarding, which he received from U.S. agents amount to torture. [67] [68] Mohammad was also subject to sleep deprivation for a period of 7 and a half days, during much of which he was forced to stand. [69]

According to later reports, Mohammed initially told American interrogators he would not answer any questions until he was provided with a lawyer, which was refused. He claims to have been kept naked for more than a month during his isolation and interrogations, and said he was "questioned by an unusual number of female handlers". [70]

A CIA document reveals that Jane Harman (D-CA) and Porter Goss (R-FL) of the House Intelligence Committee were briefed on 13 July 2004, by the CIA Deputy Director for Operations James Pavitt, General Counsel Scott Muller, and CIA Inspector General John L. Helgerson on the status of the interrogation process of Mohammed. By this date, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed had been subjected to 183 applications of waterboarding. [71]

The document states:

... the CIA was seeking renewed policy approval from the NSC Principals to continue using the enhanced interrogation techniques. [71]

A U.S. official has clarified that the "183" number represents the number of times water was poured onto Mohammed's face—not the number of times the CIA waterboarded him. According to a 2007 Red Cross report, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was subjected a total of "five sessions of ill-treatment."

"The water was poured 183 times – there were 183 pours," the official explained, adding that "each pour was a matter of seconds." [72]

On 12 October 2004, Human Rights Watch reported that 11 suspects, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, had "disappeared" to a semi-secret prison in Jordan, and may have been tortured there under the direction of the CIA. [73] [74] At the time, Jordanian and American officials denied those allegations. [75] [76] [77]

On 5 February 2008, the CIA Director Michael Hayden told a Senate committee that his agents had used waterboarding on Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. [78] A 2005 U.S. Justice Department memo released in April 2009 stated that Mohammed had undergone waterboarding 183 times in March 2003. [79]

In October 2006, Mohammed described his mistreatment and torture in detention, including the waterboarding, to a representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross. Mohammed said that he had provided a lot of false information, which he had supposed the interrogators wanted to hear, in order to stop the mistreatment. [80] In the 2006 interview with the Red Cross, Mohammed claimed to have been waterboarded in five different sessions during the first month of interrogation in his third place of detention. [80] [81] While the Justice Department memos did not explain exactly what the numbers represented, a U.S. official with knowledge of the interrogation programs explained the 183 figure represented the number of times water was applied to the detainee's face during the waterboarding sessions, rather than separate sessions. [82]

In March 2007, after four years in captivity, including six months of detention and alleged torture at Guantanamo Bay, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, as it was claimed by a Combatant Status Review Tribunal Hearing [83] in Guantanamo Bay, confessed to masterminding the 11 September attacks, the Richard Reid shoe bombing attempt to blow up an airliner over the Atlantic Ocean, the Bali nightclub bombing in Indonesia, the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and other various foiled attacks. [84] "I was responsible for the 9/11 operation from A to Z," Khalid Sheikh Mohammed said in a statement read Saturday during a Combatant Status Review Tribunal at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. [85]

According to the "unclassified summary of evidence" presented during the CSRT hearing, a computer hard drive seized during the capture of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed contained the following:

At the hearing, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed said the computer belonged not to him, but to Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi, arrested together with him. [86]

In June 2008, a New York Times article, citing unnamed CIA officers, claimed that Mohammed had been held in a black site or secret facility in Poland near Szymany Airport, about 100 miles north of Warsaw. There he was interrogated under waterboarding before he began to "cooperate". [87]

In 2009, Mohammed described his actions and motivations in a document publicly released and known as The Islamic Response to the Government's Nine Accusations. [88]

In April 2011, the British newspaper The Telegraph said it received leaked documents regarding the Guantanamo Bay interrogations of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. The documents cited Mohammed as saying that, if Osama bin Laden is captured or killed by the Coalition of the Willing, an al-Qaeda sleeper cell would detonate a "weapon of mass destruction" in a "secret location" in Europe, and promised it would be "a nuclear hellstorm". [89] [90] [91] [92] [93] [94]

Report that interrogators abused his children

Ali Khan, the father of Majid Khan, another one of the 14 "high-value detainees," released an unsubstantiated affidavit on 16 April 2006, that reported that interrogators subjected Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's children, aged 6 and 8 years old, to abusive interrogation. [95] [96] [97]

Khan's affidavit quoted another of his sons, Mohammed Khan: [98]

The Pakistani guards told my son that the boys were kept in a separate area upstairs, and were denied food and water by other guards. They were also mentally tortured by having ants or other creatures put on their legs to scare them and get them to say where their father was hiding.

Transfer to Guantanamo and hearing before his Combatant Status Review Tribunal

On 6 September 2006, American President George W. Bush confirmed, for the first time, that the CIA had held "high-value detainees" for interrogation in secret prisons around the world. [99] He also announced that fourteen senior captives, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, were being transferred from CIA custody, to military custody, at Guantanamo Bay detention camp and that these fourteen captives could now expect to face charges before Guantanamo military commissions. [100]

In a 29 September 2006, speech, Bush stated:

Once captured, Abu Zubaydah, Ramzi bin al Shibh, and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed were taken into custody of the Central Intelligence Agency. The questioning of these and other suspected terrorists provided information that helped us protect the American people. They helped us break up a cell of Southeast Asian terrorist operatives that had been groomed for attacks inside the United States. They helped us disrupt an al-Qaeda operation to develop anthrax for terrorist attacks. They helped us stop a planned strike on a U.S. Marine camp in Djibouti, and to prevent a planned attack on the U.S. Consulate in Karachi, and to foil a plot to hijack passenger planes and to fly them into Heathrow Airport and London's Canary Wharf. [101]

In March 2007, Mohammed testified before a closed-door hearing in Guantanamo Bay. According to transcripts of the hearing released by the Pentagon, he said, "I was responsible for the 9/11 operation, from A to Z." The transcripts also show him confessing to:

Because war, for sure, there will be victims. When I said I'm not happy that three thousand been killed in America. I feel sorry even. ... Killing is prohibited in all what you call the People of the Book, Jews, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. You know the Ten Commandments very well. The Ten Commandments are shared between all of us. We all are serving one God.

— Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, before his tribunal [103]

On 15 March 2007, BBC News reported that "Transcripts of his testimony were translated from Arabic and edited by the U.S. Department of Defense to remove sensitive intelligence material before release. It appeared, from a judge's question, that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed had made allegations of torture in US custody." In the Defense Department transcript, Mohammed said his statement was not made under duress but Mohammed and human rights advocates have alleged that he was tortured. CIA officials have previously told ABC News that "Mohammed lasted the longest under waterboarding, two and a half minutes, before beginning to talk." [104] Legal experts say this could taint all his statements. Forensic psychiatrist Michael Welner, M.D., an expert in false confessions, observed from the testimony transcript that his concerns about his family may have been far more influential in soliciting Mohammed's cooperation than any earlier reported mistreatment. [105]

One CIA official cautioned that "many of Mohammed's claims during interrogation were 'white noise' designed to send the U.S. on wild goose chases or to get him through the day's interrogation session." For example, according to Mike Rogers, a former FBI agent and the top Republican on the terrorism panel of the House Intelligence Committee, he admitted responsibility for the Bali nightclub bombing, but his involvement "could have been as small as arranging a safe house for travel. It could have been arranging finance." Mohammed also made the admission that he was "responsible for the 1993 World Trade Center Operation," which killed six and injured more than 1,000 when a bomb was detonated in an underground garage, Mohammed did not plan the attack, but he may have supported it. Michael Welner noted that by offering legitimate information to interrogators, Mohammed had secured the leverage to provide misinformation as well. [106]

In an article discussing the reliability of Khalid's confession and the motive for giving misinformation under torture, Ali Soufan, a former FBI special agent with considerable experience interrogating al-Qaeda operatives, pointed out that:

When they are in pain, people will say anything to get the pain to stop. Most of the time, they will lie, make up anything to make you stop hurting them. That means the information you're getting is useless.

His words are echoed by the U.S. Army Training Manual's section on interrogation, which suggests that:

[T]he use of force is a poor technique, as it ... can induce the source to say whatever he thinks the interrogator wants to hear.

As an example of this the article discloses that although the George W. Bush administration made claims that the water-boarding (simulated drowning) of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed produced vital information that allowed them to break up a plot to attack the U.S. Bank Tower (formerly Library Tower and First Interstate Bank World Center) in Los Angeles in 2002, this has been proven to be untrue. In 2002 Sheikh Mohammed was busy evading capture in Pakistan. [107] Likewise the claim by former George W Bush Attorney General Michael Mukasey and former CIA director of the National Clandestine Service, Jose Rodriguez, that the torture of Khalid Mohammed produced the most significant lead in finding Osama bin Laden, has also been shown to be false. According to U.S. Senator John McCain, "The trail to bin Laden did not begin with a disclosure from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who was waterboarded 183 times ... not only did the use of 'enhanced interrogation techniques' on Khalid Sheikh Mohammed not provide us with key leads on bin Laden's courier, Abu Ahmed; it actually produced false and misleading information." [108] [109]

List of confessions

Mohammed has made at least 31 confessions: [110]

After Mohammed arrived at Guantanamo, a team of FBI and military interrogators tried to elicit from him the same confessions that the CIA had obtained about the 9/11 plot, but by using only legal means of interrogation. By 2008, the Bush administration believed that this so-called "Clean Team" had compiled sufficient evidence to charge Mohammed and the others with capital murder. [111]

The Department of Defense announced on 9 August 2007, that all fourteen of the "high-value detainees" who had been transferred to Guantanamo from the CIA's black sites, had been officially classified as "enemy combatants". [112] Although judges Peter Brownback and Keith J. Allred had ruled two months earlier that only "illegal enemy combatants" could face military commissions, the Department of Defense waived the qualifier and said that all fourteen men could now face charges before Guantanamo military commissions. [113] [114]

Confession used in Sheikh Omar's defense

On 19 March 2007, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh's lawyers cited Mohammed's confession in defense of their client. [115] [116]

Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, also known as Sheikh Omar, was sentenced to death in a Pakistani court for the murder of Daniel Pearl. Omar's lawyers recently announced that they planned to use Mohammed's confession in an appeal. They had always acknowledged that Omar played a role in Pearl's murder, but argue that Mohammed was the actual murderer.

Prosecution in France

In 2009, the French government decided to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in absentia on terrorism charges with respect to the Ghriba synagogue bombing on the Tunisian island of Djerba in 2002, which killed 14 German tourists, five Tunisians and two French nationals. They intended to charge him along with the captured German national Christian Ganczarski and Tunisian Walid Nawar. [117] French judges later decided to separate Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's case from those of Ganczarski and Nawar and try him separately at a later date. [118]

Trial for role in 9/11 attacks

On 11 February 2008, the United States Department of Defense charged Mohammed, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi, Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali and Walid Bin Attash for the 11 September 2001 attacks under the military commission system, as established under the Military Commissions Act of 2006. They have reportedly been charged with the murder of almost 3,000 people, terrorism and providing material support for terrorism and plane hijacking; as well as attacking civilian objects, intentionally causing serious bodily injury and destruction of property in violation of the law of war. The charges against them list 169 overt acts allegedly committed by the defendants in furtherance of the 11 September events. [119]

The charges include 2,973 individual counts of murder—one for each person killed in the 9/11 attacks. [120] The prosecution is seeking the death penalty, which would require the unanimous agreement of the commission judges. [119]

Human rights groups, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Center for Constitutional Rights, and U.S. military defense lawyers have criticised the military commissions for lacking due process for a fair trial. Critics generally argue for the trials to be held in a federal district court, with defendants treated as criminal suspects, or by court-martial as a prisoner under the Geneva Conventions, which prohibit civilian trials for prisoners of war. [121] Mohammed could face the death penalty under any of these systems.

The case is progressing through the legal system. In August 2019 the trial date was tentatively set for 11 January 2021, by Judge W. Shane Cohen, [122] [123] [124] [125] [126] but this date was postponed on 18 December 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [11] Mohammed's trial restarted on 7 September 2021. [12] On July 31, 2024, a guilty plea was reached with U.S. officials, which spared him from the death penalty in exchange for life in prison. [127] However, the plea deal was rescinded by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin two days later. [16] [128]

In Boumediene v. Bush (2008), the United States Supreme Court ruled that detainees had the right of access to US federal courts to petition under habeas corpus to challenge their detentions, and that the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 and the Military Commissions Act of 2006 were flawed. A revised Military Commissions Act was passed by Congress in 2009 to address court concerns.

Mohammed, in a letter submitted to the court on 26 July 2019, communicated the willingness to help the 9/11 attack victims and their families in their lawsuit against Saudi Arabia. The mastermind is said to have demanded the elimination of his death sentence in the exchange for his cooperation. [129]

On 16 August 2023, the Pentagon and the FBI told families of the victims of the 11 September terrorist attacks that none of the alleged organizers of the attacks would face the death penalty as part of ongoing plea agreement considerations. [130]

Release of new images

On 9 September 2009, photographs of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Ammar al Baluchi were published on the Internet and widely in US and international media. [131] [132] [133] Camp authorities have strict controls over the taking and distribution of images of the Guantanamo captives. Journalists and VIPs visiting Guantanamo are not allowed to take any pictures that show the captives' faces. Journalists may see "high value" captives such as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed only when they are in the court room, where cameras are not allowed. But, on 9 September 2009, independent counter-terrorism researchers found new images of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his nephew Ammar al Baluchi on "jihadist websites". According to Carol Rosenberg, writing in The Miami Herald : "The pictures were taken in July, said International Committee of the Red Cross spokesman Bernard Barrett, under an agreement with prison camp staff that lets Red Cross delegates photograph detainees and send photos to family members." [131]

In November 2014, a Turkish manufacturer of over-the-counter hair removal cream was found to be using an image of a disheveled Mohammed in adverts for their product. [134] [135]

Manifesto

In January 2014, a 36-page "nonviolence manifesto" written by KSM was declassified and released by the US government. The title is "Khalid Sheikh Mohammad's Statement to the Crusaders of the Military Commissions in Guantanamo." [136] The document outlines 3 parts, but appears to be just the first section, describing "the path to happiness." The subject writes to his captors and appears interested in converting his wider audience to Islam. The notes contain eight books with three Western authors and penciled initials with the date 31 October 2013. [137]

Khalid Sheikh Mohammad and Sulaiman Abu Ghaith

Khalid Sheikh Mohammad has participated as a witness in the trials of two alleged al-Qaeda members, Zacarias Moussaoui and Salim Hamdan. Los Angeles Times reporter Richard Serrano wrote:

"In 2006, his interrogation summaries were read aloud in the capital murder trial of Zacarias Moussaoui, the so-called 20th hijacker, and Moussaoui was spared the death penalty. Two years later, different Mohammed statements were read in a military commission trial, or tribunal, that led to the release from Guantanamo Bay of Osama bin Laden's chauffeur, Salim Hamdan." [138]

Stanley Cohen, an attorney for Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, requested to interview Mohammad, who they described as "the most qualified person alive" to assist in Abu Gaith's defense. Mohammad, through his attorney David Nevin, agreed to be interviewed, but only "in the absence of government personnel whether physically present or by listening or recording remotely." [138]

Mohammed instead drafted a 14-page statement response to 451 interrogatories submitted by Cohen. [139] In the response, Mohammad called Abu Ghaith, a "pious man" and "spellbinding speaker" who, to the best of his knowledge, did not play any military role in al-Qaeda operations and had no military training. Mohammed argued that Western foreign policy has been hypocritical in that it allowed for the rise of the Mujahideen in the Soviet War, but that Western media has since branded the Mujahideen "terrorists" or "foreign fighters". He further claimed that the Taliban's strict Islamic rule had restored security to Afghanistan in the 1990s. [140] U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan ruled that neither Mohammad's statement nor testimony were relevant to Abu Ghaith's trial, and thus inadmissible. [141]

Personal life

Mohammed is fluent in Balochi, Urdu, Arabic, and English. [142] He has two sons, aged seven and nine at the time of his arrest in 2002. [23]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abu Zubaydah</span> Saudi Arabian Guantanamo detainee (born 1971)

Abu Zubaydah is a Palestinian citizen born in Saudi Arabia currently held by the U.S. in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba. He is held under the authority of Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists (AUMF).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ramzi bin al-Shibh</span> Yemenite terrorist

Ramzi Mohammed Abdullah bin al-Shibh is a Yemeni terrorist who served as al-Qaeda's communications officer. He has been detained by the United States in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp (NSGB) since 2002. He is accused of being a "key facilitator" for the September 11 attacks in 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Riduan Isamuddin</span> Indonesian Islamist militant imprisoned in the US (born 1964)

Riduan Isamuddin, also known by the nom de guerreHambali, is the former military leader of the Indonesian terrorist organization Jemaah Islamiyah (JI). He is currently in American custody at Guantanamo Bay detainment camp in Cuba. He is currently awaiting trial in a military commission.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walid bin Attash</span> Yemeni Guantanamo Bay detainee (born 1978)

Walid Muhammad Salih bin Mubarak bin Attash is a Yemeni prisoner held at the United States' Guantanamo Bay detention camp under terrorism-related charges and is suspected of playing a key role in the early stages of the 9/11 attacks. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence has described him as a "scion of a terrorist family". American prosecutors at the Guantanamo military commissions allege that he helped in the preparation of the 1998 East Africa Embassy bombings and the USS Cole bombing and acted as a bodyguard to Osama bin Laden, gaining himself the reputation of an "errand boy". He is formally charged with selecting and helping to train several of the hijackers of the September 11 attacks. On 31 July 2024, Attash agreed to plead guilty to avoid the death penalty. His plea deal was revoked by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin two days later.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ahmed Ghailani</span> Islamist terrorist; member of al-Qaeda

Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani is a Tanzanian conspirator of the al-Qaeda terrorist organization convicted for his role in the bombing of embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. He was indicted in the United States as a participant in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings. He was on the FBI Most Wanted Terrorists list from its inception in October 2001. In 2004, he was captured and detained by Pakistani forces in a joint operation with the United States, and was held until June 9, 2009, at Guantanamo Bay detention camp; one of 14 Guantanamo detainees who had previously been held at secret locations abroad. According to The Washington Post, Ghailani told military officers he is contrite and claimed to be an exploited victim of al-Qaeda operatives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mohammed al-Qahtani</span> Saudi Arabian Guantanamo detainee

Mohammed Mani Ahmad al-Qahtani is a Saudi citizen who was detained as an al-Qaeda operative for 20 years in the United States's Guantanamo Bay detention camps in Cuba. Qahtani allegedly tried to enter the United States to take part in the September 11 attacks as the 20th hijacker and was due to be onboard United Airlines Flight 93 along with the four other hijackers. He was refused entry due to suspicions that he was trying to illegally immigrate. He was later captured in Afghanistan in the Battle of Tora Bora in December 2001.

The 20th hijacker is a possible additional terrorist in the September 11 attacks of 2001 who, for unknown reasons, was unable to participate. The 20th hijacker, though not present during the actual attacks, is said to have been deeply involved in the preparations. There were many variations of the 9/11 plot, with the number of terrorists fluctuating with available resources and changing circumstances. In the end, there were 19 hijackers: three of the planes were taken over by five members each and the fourth was hijacked by four people. The latter plane, United Airlines Flight 93, crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, due to the resistance from passengers before it could reach its target in Washington, D.C.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ammar al-Baluchi</span> Prisoner at Guantanamo Bay detention camp

Ammar al-Balushi or Amar Baloch; born Ali Abdul Aziz Ali on 29 August 1977) is a Pakistani (Balochi) citizen who has been in American custody at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp since 2006. He was arrested in the Pakistani city of Karachi in 2003 before being transferred; the series of criminal charges against him include: "facilitating the 9/11 attackers, acting as a courier for Osama bin Laden and plotting to crash a plane packed with explosives into the U.S. consulate in Karachi." He is a nephew of the Pakistani terrorist Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who served as a senior official of al-Qaeda between the late 1980s and early 2000s; and a cousin of the Pakistani terrorist Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, who played a key role in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the Philippine Airlines Flight 434 bombing, and the high-profile Bojinka plot.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mustafa al-Hawsawi</span> Saudi Arabian terrorist

Mustafa Ahmed Adam al-Hawsawi is a Saudi Arabian citizen. He is alleged to have acted as a key financial facilitator for the September 11 attacks in the United States.

On September 11, 2001, 19 al-Qaeda terrorists took control of four commercial aircraft and used them as suicide weapons in a series of four coordinated acts of terrorism to strike the World Trade Center in New York City, The Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia, and an additional target in Washington, D.C. Two aircraft hit the World Trade Center while the third hit the Pentagon. A fourth plane did not arrive at its target, but crashed into a field in Pennsylvania after a passenger revolt. The intended target is believed to have been the United States Capitol. As a result, 2,977 victims were killed, making it the deadliest foreign attack on U.S. soil, exceeding Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941, which killed 2,335 members of the United States Armed Forces and 68 civilians. The effort was carefully planned by al-Qaeda, which sent 19 terrorists to take over Boeing 757 and Boeing 767 aircraft, operated by American Airlines and United Airlines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abu Faraj al-Libbi</span> Libyan member of al-Qaeda

Abu Faraj al-Libi is an assumed name or nom de guerre of a Libyan alleged to be a senior member of the al-Qaeda terrorist organization. His real name is Mustafa Faraj Muhammad Muhammad Masud al-Jadid al-Uzaybi. He was arrested by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) on May 2, 2005, in Mardan. Finding al-Libi was a joint effort of the Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) Special Activities Division and Pakistan's Special Forces.

Mohammed Omar Abdel-Rahman is an Egyptian who was in United States custody in one of the CIA's "black sites". Also known as "Asadullah" Human Rights Watch reports he is the son of Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, the "blind sheikh" who was convicted of involvement in the first al Qaeda bombing of the World Trade Center, in 1993. Mohammed is alleged to have run a training camp, and to have had a role in operational planning.

Majid Shoukat Khan is a Pakistani who was the only known legal resident of the United States held in the Guantanamo Bay Detainment Camp. He was a "high value detainee" and was tortured by U.S. intelligence forces.

The American intelligence analysts who compiled the justifications for continuing to detain the captives taken in the "war on terror" made dozens of references to al Qaida safe houses, in Karachi, Pakistan.

Hassan Ghul, born Mustafa Hajji Muhammad Khan, was a Saudi-born Pakistani member of al-Qaeda who revealed the kunya of Osama bin Laden's messenger, which eventually led to Operation Neptune Spear and the death of Osama Bin Laden. Ghul was an ethnic Pashtun whose family was from Waziristan. He was designated by the Al-Qaida and Taliban Sanctions Committee of the Security Council in 2012.

<i>United States v. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed</i> Trial of alleged September 11, 2001 attackers

United States v. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, et al. is the trial of five alleged al-Qaeda members for aiding the September 11, 2001 attacks. Charges were announced by Brigadier General Thomas W. Hartmann on February 11, 2008 at a press conference hosted by the Pentagon. The men charged are Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Walid bin Attash, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, Ammar al-Baluchi, and Mustafa Ahmad al Hawsawi.

This page lists trials related to the September 11 attacks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Muhammad Rahim al Afghani</span> Afghan detainee in Guantanamo

Muhammad Rahim is an Afghan national who is held in captivity by the United States Government at Guantanamo Bay. He was born in eastern Afghanistan. Muhammad Rahim worked for an Afghan government committee that worked to eliminate opium poppies from the nation. He was forced to leave his job by the Taliban. In 1979, Rahim fled Afghanistan with his brother over the border of Pakistan. Their departure was triggered by the Soviet Union invasion into Afghanistan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Interrogation of Abu Zubaydah</span> Interrogation of a Saudi Arabian in U.S. custody

Abu Zubaydah is a Saudi citizen who helped manage the Khalden training camp in Afghanistan. Captured in Pakistan on March 28, 2002, he has since been held by the United States as an enemy combatant. Beginning in August 2002, Abu Zubaydah was the first prisoner to undergo enhanced interrogation techniques. There is disagreement among government sources as to how effective these techniques were; some officials contend that Abu Zubaydah gave his most valuable information before they were used; CIA lawyer John Rizzo said he gave more material afterward.

The Guantánamo Bay files leak began on 24 April 2011, when WikiLeaks, along with The New York Times, NPR and The Guardian and other independent news organizations, began publishing 779 formerly secret documents relating to detainees at the United States' Guantánamo Bay detention camp established in 2002 after its invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. The documents consist of classified assessments, interviews, and internal memos about detainees, which were written by the Pentagon's Joint Task Force Guantanamo, headquartered at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base. The documents are marked "secret" and NOFORN.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Margot Williams (3 November 2008). "Guantanamo Docket: Khalid Shaikh Mohammed" (PDF). The New York Times. Archived from the original on 16 July 2014. Retrieved 10 September 2010.
  2. ↑ "Detainee Biographies" (PDF). Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 November 2009.
  3. ↑ "U.S. v. Khalid Shaikh Mohammed military tribunal charges" (PDF). FindLaw . Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 March 2016. Retrieved 15 July 2008.
  4. ↑ "The Guantánamo Docket: Khalid Shaikh Mohammed". The New York Times . Archived from the original on 16 July 2014. Retrieved 10 September 2010.
  5. 1 2 Filkins, Dexter (31 December 2014). "Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the C.I.A." The New Yorker. Archived from the original on 10 December 2017. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
  6. ↑ Ali Soufan and Daniel Freedman, The Black Banners: The Inside Story of 9/11 and the War Against al-Qaeda Archived May 21, 2017, at the Wayback Machine , 2011
  7. 1 2 3 Chris McGreal, "Khalid Sheikh Mohammed: former military prosecutor denounces trial" Archived February 21, 2017, at the Wayback Machine , The Guardian , May 4, 2012
  8. 1 2 "Truth and torture | Comment is free". Theguardian.co.uk. 20 May 2014. Archived from the original on 14 July 2015. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
  9. ↑ Dworkin, Ronald (14 August 2008). "Why It Was a Great Victory". The New York Review of Books. 55 (13). Archived from the original on 22 February 2017. Retrieved 21 February 2017.
  10. ↑ Rosenberg, Carol (30 August 2019). "Trial Date for Men Charged With Plotting Sept. 11 Attacks Is Set for 2021". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331. Archived from the original on 30 August 2019. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  11. 1 2 "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 January 2021. Retrieved 10 March 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  12. 1 2 "Trial of accused 9/11 mastermind restarts, days before 20th anniversary". The Straits Times. 7 September 2021. Archived from the original on 7 September 2021. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
  13. ↑ Pfeiffer, Sacha (2 March 2023). "Plea deal talks are in limbo for the five men accused in the 9/11 attacks". NPR. Retrieved 2 August 2024.
  14. ↑ Rosenberg, Carol (31 July 2024). "Accused Sept. 11 Plotters Agree to Plead Guilty at Guantánamo Bay". The New York Times . Retrieved 31 July 2024.
  15. ↑ Rosenberg, Carol (2 August 2024). "Defense Secretary Revokes Plea Deal for Accused Sept. 11 Plotters". The New York Times . Retrieved 2 August 2024.
  16. 1 2 Paúl, María Luisa; Lamothe, Dan; Ferguson, Amber (2 August 2024). "Defense secretary revokes plea deals with accused 9/11 plotters". The Washington Post . Archived from the original on 3 August 2024. Retrieved 3 August 2024.
  17. ↑ Britzky, Haley (7 November 2024). "Military judge overrules defense secretary and says plea deals for alleged 9/11 conspirators are valid". CNN . Retrieved 8 November 2024.
  18. ↑ Knickmeyer, Ellen (7 November 2024). "Plea deals revived for alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and others". Associated Press . Retrieved 8 November 2024.
  19. ↑ McDermott, Terry; Meyer, Josh (26 March 2012). The Hunt for KSM: Inside the Pursuit and Takedown of the Real 9/11 Mastermind, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Little, Brown. ISBN   978-0-316-20273-2.
  20. ↑ "OFSI Consolidated List, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed". HM Treasury .[ permanent dead link ]
  21. ↑ "Khalid Sheikh Mohammed". Human Rights Watch. 26 October 2012. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 4 December 2016.
  22. ↑ "Profile: Al-Qaeda 'kingpin'". BBC News. 5 May 2012. Retrieved 18 September 2015. Mohammed is believed to have been born in either 1964 or 1965 in Kuwait into a family originally from the Pakistani province of Baluchistan
  23. 1 2 "The Plots and Designs of Al Qaeda's Engineer". Los Angeles Times. 22 December 2002. Retrieved 5 May 2023.
  24. 1 2 "Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Fast Facts". CNN. 3 February 2013. Archived from the original on 21 February 2017. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  25. ↑ Scroggins, Deborah (2012). Wanted Women: Faith, Lies, and the War on Terror: The Lives of Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Aafia Siddiqui. HarperCollins. p. 60.
  26. 1 2 McDermott, Terry (6 September 2010). "The Mastermind". The New Yorker. Retrieved 5 May 2023.
  27. ↑ Mcdermott, Terry (1 August 2006). Perfect Soldiers: The 9/11 Hijackers: Who They Were, Why They Did It. Harper Paperbacks., page 111
  28. ↑ Susan Candiotti; Maria Ressa; Justine Redman; Henry Schuster CNN (19 December 2002). "Suspected 9/11 mastermind graduated from U.S. university". Edition.cnn.com. Archived from the original on 24 January 2010. Retrieved 6 October 2010.{{cite news}}: |author4= has generic name (help)
  29. ↑ "The 9/11 Commission Report" (PDF). 9-11commission.gov. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 October 2016. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
  30. ↑ "9/11 planner is recast as key asset for CIA", NBC News. accessed September 11, 2011.
  31. ↑ "Alleged Sept. 11 mastermind's nephew plotted 1993 bombing: FBI's most-wanted terrorist after bin Laden lived in luxury in Philippines with '93 plotter". Ottawa Citizen. Associated Press. 26 June 2002.
  32. ↑ Gunaratna, Rohan (3 March 2003). "Womaniser, joker, scuba diver: the other face of al-Qaida's No 3". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 26 August 2013. Retrieved 12 September 2006.
  33. ↑ "AL QAEDA AIMS AT THE AMERICAN HOMELAND — CH5". 9-11commission. 2007. Archived from the original on 16 August 2009. Retrieved 28 August 2007. In January 1996, well aware that U.S. authorities were chasing him, he left Qatar for good and fled to Afghanistan, where he renewed his relationship with Rasul Sayyaf.9
  34. ↑ Archived March 1, 2005, at the Wayback Machine
  35. ↑ Barrett, Wayne (20 November 2007). "Rudy's Ties to a Terror Sheikh". Villagevoice.com. Archived from the original on 15 January 2015. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
  36. ↑ "Home". Propeller. 25 September 2010. Archived from the original on 2 December 2007. Retrieved 6 October 2010.
  37. ↑ "MotherJones Blog: Village Voice: Giuliani Did Business With Terrorism Supporter". Motherjones.com. Archived from the original on 30 September 2013. Retrieved 10 August 2013.
  38. ↑ Marcus Baram, "Giuliani's Ties to Qatar Raise Questions for Mr. 9/ll" Archived December 1, 2007, at the Wayback Machine , ABC News, November 29, 2007
  39. ↑ "National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States". 9-11commission. Archived from the original on 16 August 2009. Retrieved 13 August 2010.
  40. ↑ McDermott, Terry (11 August 2006). "Echoes of '95 Manila Plot". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 1 December 2008. Retrieved 13 September 2006.
  41. ↑ "Top al Qaeda operative caught in Pakistan". CNN. 1 March 2003. Archived from the original on 2 March 2012.
  42. ↑ "Most wanted terrorists list released". CNN. 1 October 2001. Archived from the original on 14 July 2008. Retrieved 18 July 2008.
  43. ↑ "Suspect 'reveals 9/11 planning'". BBC News. 22 September 2003. Archived from the original on 23 November 2018. Retrieved 15 March 2007.
  44. 1 2 3 4 5 National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (2004). "Chapter 5". 9/11 Commission Report. Government Printing Office. Archived from the original on 16 August 2009. Retrieved 21 October 2004.
  45. ↑ 9/11 Commission Report, p. 149
  46. ↑ Wright, Lawrence (2006). The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11. Knopf. p. 308.
  47. ↑ Harl, Thomas; er (11 September 2015). "How the U.S. Bank Tower Was Almost Targeted on 9/11". Lamag - Culture, Food, Fashion, News & Los Angeles. Archived from the original on 23 February 2020. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  48. ↑ Bergen, Peter (2006). The Osama bin Laden I Know. Free Press. p. 283.
  49. ↑ Schone, Mark (11 September 2010). "9/11 Perpetrators: Where Are They Now? – ABC News". Abcnews.go.com. Archived from the original on 23 September 2018. Retrieved 11 July 2013.
  50. ↑ "Outline of the 9/11 Plot Staff Statement No. 16" (PDF). 9/11 Commission. June 16, 2004. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 11, 2012. Retrieved March 26, 2017.
  51. ↑ "Philip Zelikow's testimony before the 9/11 Commission". PBS Newshour. June 16, 2004. Archived from the original on December 23, 2011. Retrieved October 29, 2011.
  52. ↑ "We left out nuclear targets, for now". The Guardian. London. 3 March 2003. Archived from the original on 23 January 2008. Retrieved 4 April 2010.
  53. ↑ Blomquist, Brian (10 July 2003). "MEETING THAT SPAWNED 9/11 – MONSTERS PLOTTED 'HOLY TUESDAY'". New York Post. Archived from the original on 12 February 2020. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
  54. ↑ "Verbatim Transcript of Combatant Status Review Tribunal Hearing for ISN 10024" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 March 2015. Retrieved 15 March 2007.
  55. ↑ "We left out nuclear targets, for now". The Guardian. London. 4 March 2003. Archived from the original on 23 January 2008. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
  56. ↑ Ressa, Maria. "Sources:Reid is al Qaeda operative". CNN. 29 January 2003. Archived from the original on 4 January 2007. Retrieved 15 September 2006.CNN.com, December 6, 2003.
  57. ↑ Burger, Timothy J.; Adam Zagorin (12 October 2006). "Fingering Danny Pearl's Killer". Time . Time Warner. Archived from the original on 14 October 2006. Retrieved 15 March 2007.
  58. ↑ "Key 9/11 figure 'beheaded Pearl'". BBC News . BBC. 15 March 2007. Archived from the original on 17 March 2007. Retrieved 15 March 2007.
  59. ↑ "Al-Qaida No. 3 says he planned 9/11, other plots". NBC News. Associated Press. 15 March 2007. Archived from the original on 5 August 2015. Retrieved 15 March 2007.
  60. ↑ Ackerman, Spencer (20 January 2011). "Qaeda Killer's Veins Implicate Him In Journo's Murder". Wired . Archived from the original on 21 January 2011. Retrieved 21 January 2011.
  61. ↑ Blackburn, Bradley (20 January 2011). "Report Says Justice Not Served in Murder of Daniel Pearl, Wall Street Journal Reporter". ABC News. Archived from the original on 23 January 2011. Retrieved 20 January 2011.
  62. ↑ Shahzad, Syed Saleem (30 October 2002). "A chilling inheritance of terror". Asia Times. Archived from the original on 30 October 2002.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  63. ↑ Shane, Scott (22 June 2008). "Inside a 9/11 Mastermind's Interrogation". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2 April 2019. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
  64. ↑ Mak, Tim (9 December 2014). "Inside the CIA's Sadistic Dungeon". The Daily Beast . Archived from the original on 3 February 2015. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  65. ↑ "BBC News – Khalid Sheikh Mohammed 'asked to design' vacuum cleaner". BBC . Archived from the original on 11 July 2013. Retrieved 11 July 2013.
  66. ↑ "Americas | Bush admits to CIA secret prisons". News.bbc.co.uk. 7 September 2006. Archived from the original on 12 November 2014. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
  67. ↑ "Red Cross report; page 37" (PDF). Fox News. 14 February 2007. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 October 2011. Retrieved 6 October 2010.
  68. ↑ Mikkelsen, Randall (5 February 2008). "CIA says used waterboarding on three suspects". Reuters. Archived from the original on 10 June 2009. Retrieved 18 November 2009.
  69. ↑ "Rectal rehydration and broken limbs: the grisliest findings in the CIA torture report | US news". Theguardian.com. Archived from the original on 11 June 2015. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
  70. ↑ Mayer, Jane (2009). The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals. Random House, Inc. p. 273. ISBN   9780307456298. Archived from the original on 16 March 2021. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  71. 1 2 Bradbury, Steven. "Memorandum from Steven Bradbury for John A. Rizzo, Senior Deputy General Counsel, Central Intelligence Agency, Re: Application of the United States Obligations Under Article 16 of the Convention Against Torture to Certain Techniques that May Be Used in the Interrogation of High Value al Qaeda Detainees" (PDF). Center for Constitutional Rights Online Archive. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 April 2009. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
  72. ↑ "ICRC Report on the Treatment of Fourteen 'High Value Detainees' in CIA Custody" (PDF). Foxnews.com. February 2007. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
  73. ↑ "Eleven Detainees in Undisclosed Locations". Human Rights Watch . October 2004. Archived from the original on 26 November 2010. Retrieved 4 December 2016.
  74. ↑ "The Legal Prohibition Against Torture". Human Rights Watch. 1 June 2004. Archived from the original on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 4 December 2016.
  75. ↑ "Al Qaeda men in 'ghost prison'". rediff.com . 18 October 2004. Archived from the original on 18 November 2004. Retrieved 20 October 2004.
  76. ↑ "Jordan denies 'secret US prison'". BBC . 14 October 2004. Archived from the original on 20 September 2005. Retrieved 17 June 2005.
  77. ↑ Hibbitts, Bernard (7 March 2005). "Gonzales insists US did not send prisoners abroad to be tortured". The Jurist . Archived from the original on 3 September 2005.
  78. ↑ Price, Caitlin. "CIA chief confirms use of waterboarding on 3 terror detainees". University of Pittsburgh School of Law. Archived from the original on 4 October 2008. Retrieved 13 May 2008.
  79. ↑ Shane, Scott (20 April 2009). "Waterboarding Used 266 Times On 2 Suspects". The New York Times . p. 1. Archived from the original on 22 April 2009. Retrieved 22 February 2017.
  80. 1 2 "ICRC Report on the Treatment of Fourteen "High Value Detainees" in CIA Custody" (PDF). 14 February 2007. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 April 2009. Retrieved 6 October 2010.
  81. ↑ "ICRC Report on the Treatment of Fourteen "High Value Detainees" in CIA Custody" (PDF). Fox News. February 2007. p. 35. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 May 2009. Retrieved 18 November 2009.
  82. ↑ "Despite Reports, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Was Not Waterboarded 183 Times". FOXNews.com. 7 April 2010. Archived from the original on 24 February 2011. Retrieved 13 August 2010.
  83. ↑ "Khalid Sheikh Mohammed confession transcript" (PDF). www.defenselink.mil. 10 March 2007. Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 28 August 2007.
  84. ↑ "Transcript: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed confesses 9/11 role". CNN. 14 March 2007. Archived from the original on 15 March 2007. Retrieved 14 March 2007.
  85. ↑ "September 11 mastermind 'confesses'". Al Jazeera. 15 March 2007. Archived from the original on 7 December 2007.
  86. ↑ wikisource:Verbatim Transcript of Combatant Status Review Tribunal Hearing for ISN 10024
  87. ↑ Shane, Scott (22 June 2008). "Inside a 9/11 Mastermind's Interrogation". The New York Times. p. 4. Archived from the original on 18 April 2009. Retrieved 18 November 2009.
  88. ↑ "The Islamic Response to the Government's Nine Accusations". Archived from the original on 15 July 2011. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
  89. ↑ Christopher Hope; Robert Winnett; Holly Watt; Heidi Blake (25 April 2011). "WikiLeaks: Guantanamo Bay terrorist secrets revealed". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 1 July 2012. A senior al-Qaeda commander claimed that the terrorist group has hidden a nuclear bomb in Europe which will be detonated if Bin-Laden is ever caught or assassinated. The US authorities uncovered numerous attempts by al-Qaeda to obtain nuclear materials and feared that terrorists have already bought uranium. Sheikh Mohammed told interrogators that al-Qaeda would unleash a 'nuclear hellstorm'.
  90. ↑ Mark H. Buzby (15 April 2008). "Combatant Status Review Tribunal Input and Recommendation for Continued Detention Under DoD Control (CD) for Guantanamo Detainee, ISN: US9KU-010024DP (S)" (PDF). JTF-GTMO. Archived (PDF) from the original on 25 April 2012. Retrieved 29 October 2011. Commons-logo.svg Media related to FIle:ISN 10024, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's Guantanamo detainee assessment.pdf at Wikimedia Commons
  91. ↑ Archived June 14, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
  92. ↑ "'Nuclear hellstorm' if bin Laden caught – 9/11 mastermind". News.au. April 25, 2011. Archived from the original on September 2, 2011.
  93. ↑ Archived May 1, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  94. ↑ "Al-Qaeda hid bomb in Europe: WikiLeaks releases secret files". Newstabulous. 25 April 2011. Archived from the original on 7 May 2011.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  95. ↑ Melia, Michael (16 April 2007). "Father of Pakistani Alleges U.S. Torture". Associated Press. Retrieved 18 April 2007.[ dead link ]
  96. ↑ Hrubos, Natalie (17 April 2007). "Guantanamo detainee's father says son tortured in secret CIA prison". The Jurist. Archived from the original on 30 January 2008. Retrieved 18 April 2007.
  97. ↑ Ali Khan (December 2011). "Statement of Ali Khan" (PDF). Center for Constitutional Rights. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 June 2009. Retrieved 19 June 2009.
  98. ↑ Ali Khan (19 June 2009). "Statement of Ali Khan AK" (PDF). Center for Constitutional Rights. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 June 2009. Retrieved 19 June 2009.
  99. ↑ Gonyea, Don (6 September 2006). "Bush Concedes CIA Ran Secret Prisons Abroad". NPR. Archived from the original on 27 January 2010. Retrieved 22 February 2010.
  100. ↑ "President Bush's Speech on Terrorism". The New York. 6 September 2006. Archived from the original on 18 May 2020. Retrieved 24 May 2020.
  101. ↑ "President Bush Discusses Global War on Terror". The White House. 29 September 2006. Archived from the original on 30 December 2017. Retrieved 11 March 2012.
  102. ↑ "Key 9/11 suspect confesses guilt". BBC News . BBC. 15 March 2007. Archived from the original on 7 January 2019. Retrieved 15 March 2007.
  103. ↑ CSRT for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, March 10, 2007.
  104. ↑ CIA's Harsh Interrogation Techniques Described: Sources Say Agency's Tactics Lead to Questionable Confessions, Sometimes to Death Archived April 6, 2019, at the Wayback Machine , ABC News, November 18, 2005
  105. ↑ "ABC News: Expert Looks Beyond Mohammed's Confessions". Abc News. 15 March 2007. Archived from the original on 13 April 2011. Retrieved 6 October 2010.
  106. ↑ "Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's own words provide glimpse into the mind of a terrorist". WSVN. Associated Press. 16 March 2007. Archived from the original on 25 August 2012. Retrieved 11 March 2012.
  107. ↑ Robbins, Martin (4 November 2010). "Does torture work?". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 11 February 2014. Retrieved 15 June 2011.
  108. ↑ Dilanian, Ken (12 May 2011). "John McCain: Abusive interrogation didn't yield trail to Osama bin Laden". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 9 March 2013. Retrieved 11 July 2013.
  109. ↑ "McCain says torture did not lead to bin Laden". NBC News. 5 December 2011. Archived from the original on 12 September 2021. Retrieved 11 July 2013.
  110. ↑ "Americas | Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's '31 plots'". News.bbc.co.uk. 15 March 2007. Archived from the original on 17 December 2014. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
  111. ↑ Jane Mayer (16 February 2010). "The Trial.Eric Holder and the battle over Khalid Sheikh Mohammed". The New Yorker . Archived from the original on 7 July 2014. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
  112. ↑ Lolita C. Baldur (August 9, 2007). "Pentagon: 14 Guantanamo Suspects Are Now Combatants". Time magazine . Archived from the original on October 19, 2012. Retrieved October 26, 2016. mirror
  113. ↑ Sergeant Sara Wood (4 June 2007). "Charges Dismissed Against Canadian at Guantanamo". Department of Defense. Archived from the original on 16 March 2008. Retrieved 7 June 2007.
  114. ↑ Sergeant Sara Wood (4 June 2007). "Judge Dismisses Charges Against Second Guantanamo Detainee". Department of Defense. Archived from the original on 13 June 2007. Retrieved 7 June 2007.
  115. ↑ "Militant convicted of Pearl killing to rely on KSM Guantanamo confession on appeal". The Jurist. 19 March 2007. Retrieved 20 March 2007.[ permanent dead link ]
  116. ↑ "Pearl murder convict to appeal after confession". Reuters. 19 March 2007. Archived from the original on 2 April 2007. Retrieved 20 March 2007.
  117. ↑ "France tries trio over Djerba synagogue bombing". 4 January 2009. Archived from the original on 31 July 2012. Retrieved 22 July 2012.
  118. ↑ "Michel Moutot. Al Qaeda militant found guilty for Tunisian synagogue attack". Expatica.com. Archived from the original on 5 July 2012. Retrieved 22 July 2012.
  119. 1 2 "U.S. Department of Defense – Military Commissions". Defense.gov. Archived from the original on 9 November 2010. Retrieved 6 October 2010.
  120. ↑ "Guantanamo 9/11 suspects on trial". BBC News. 6 June 2008. Archived from the original on 16 February 2009. Retrieved 8 December 2008.
  121. ↑ "Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War (Article 84)". Usmilitary.about.com. 19 June 2010. Archived from the original on 25 June 2010. Retrieved 6 October 2010.
  122. ↑ "Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (Guantánamo 9/11 Attacks Trial)". The New York Times. 2 May 2019. ISSN   0362-4331. Archived from the original on 22 April 2019. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
  123. ↑ Rosenberg, Carol (2 May 2019). "Military Judge in Trial of Sept. 11 Suspects Will Step Aside". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331. Archived from the original on 14 May 2019. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
  124. ↑ "Khalid Sheikh Mohammed". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 28 May 2019. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
  125. ↑ Borger, Julian (2 February 2019). "'Why can't we get this over?': 9/11 hearings drag on at Guantánamo". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077. Archived from the original on 13 May 2019. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
  126. ↑ Romo, Vanessa; Pfeiffer, Sasha; Myre, Greg (30 August 2019). "Trial Date Set For Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, 4 Others Charged In 9/11 Attacks". NPR. Archived from the original on 30 August 2019. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
  127. ↑ Liebermann, Oren (31 July 2024). "US reaches plea deal with alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed". CNN.
  128. ↑ Martinez, Luis (2 August 2024). "Austin revokes plea deal for alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and 2 others". ABC News.
  129. ↑ "Alleged 9/11 Mastermind Open to Helping Victims' Lawsuit if U.S. Spares Him Death Penalty". Wall Street Journal. 29 July 2019. Archived from the original on 29 July 2019. Retrieved 29 July 2019.
  130. ↑ Kickmeyer, Ellen; Peltz, Jennifer (16 August 2023). "Plea negotiations could mean no 9/11 defendants face the death penalty, the US tells families". Associated Press. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
  131. 1 2 Carol Rosenberg (10 September 2009). "Guantánamo photos of accused 9/11 mastermind posted on Web". The Miami Herald . Retrieved 10 September 2009.[ dead link ]
  132. ↑ Mackey, Robert (9 September 2009). "Photographs of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed at Guantánamo Appear Online". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 12 September 2009. Retrieved 10 September 2009.
  133. ↑ "Photos of '9/11 plotter' hit web". BBC News. 10 September 2009. Archived from the original on 12 September 2009. Retrieved 10 September 2009.
  134. ↑ "Al-Qaeda mastermind featured for 'hairs, not terrorism' in cosmetic ad: Turkish company". Hurriyet Daily News . Istanbul. 4 November 2014. Archived from the original on 23 November 2014. Retrieved 24 November 2014. Yıldız said the company had discovered the image on İnci Sözlük, a Turkish online social community website that can be described as Turkey's answer to 4chan.org. "Several popular caps [humorously captioned images] were produced with his photo. Most were related to insomnia," he added.
  135. ↑ "Former Al Qaeda leader used in Turkish hair-removal spray ad". New York Daily News . 5 November 2014. Archived from the original on 7 December 2014. Retrieved 24 November 2014. Turkey-based Epila featured a picture in its ad of the infamous former Al Qaeda leader Khalid Sheikh Mohammed shortly after he was captured in 2003 — and the best part is that a spokesman for the cosmetics company said in a statement, "We didn't know that he was a terrorist."
  136. ↑ "The Huffington Post". Data.huffingtonpost.com. Archived from the original on 17 January 2014. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
  137. ↑ "KSM Releases Lengthy 'Nonviolence' Manifesto, Shows Nothing Has Changed - TransparentPolicy.orgTransparentPolicy.org". Transparentpolicy.org. 17 January 2014. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
  138. 1 2 Serrano, Richard A. (12 February 2014). "Khalid Shaikh Mohammed offers to testify in New York federal trial". Los Angeles Times . Archived from the original on 22 February 2015. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
  139. ↑ Klasfeld, Adam. "KSM Would Have Been a Dud in al-Qaida Case". Courthouse News Services. Archived from the original on 8 May 2014. Retrieved 8 May 2014.
  140. ↑ Worthington, Andy. "From Guantánamo, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's Declaration in the New York Trial of Sulaiman Abu Ghaith". Author. Archived from the original on 8 May 2014. Retrieved 8 May 2014.
  141. ↑ Jakobsson, Lena. "Khalid Sheikh Mohammed won't testify at bin Laden relative's trial, judge rules". CNN. Archived from the original on 8 May 2014. Retrieved 8 May 2014.
  142. ↑ "Prisoners : Ghost: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed". Cageprisoners . Archived from the original on 9 March 2013. Retrieved 23 February 2012.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.