Idaho attorneys David Nevin and Scott McKay will be joining Mohammed's defense and met with him this week.
“The prosecution of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will undoubtedly raise the issues of torture, hearsay and secret evidence,” said Nevin. “If the government’s evidence is as strong as it claims, you have to wonder why it lacks the confidence to prove its case in a real court with constitutional protections.”
“This case is a critical test of the deeply flawed military commission system,” said McKay. “These prosecutions must reflect core American principles of justice and fairness. We can’t just throw out our constitutional values and decide to adhere to the rule of law depending on who is being prosecuted and what the alleged crimes are. That subverts the entire notion of justice.”
The ACLU says:
“At every step of the way, these commissions have denigrated our country’s historic commitment to the principle of due process and compromised America’s reputation in the eyes of the world,” said ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero, who is in Guantánamo for today’s arraignment of Mohammed and four other detainees. “The time has come to scrap this illegitimate system and make a fresh start by moving these cases to federal criminal courts or traditional military courts where constitutional guarantees still apply.”
The Pentagon now is rushing Mohammed to trial, after waiting six years to bring charges:
“The government has had over six years to build its case and is giving the defense just three short months to prepare for trial – all in an effort to steamroll the process to meet an arbitrary court date clearly designed to influence the elections,” added Romero. “This is a direct assault on the fundamental concepts of American justice and due process.”
Among those supporting the joint project are families of 9/11 victims.
“Like others who mourn family members killed on 9/11, I wish for justice and accountability for my son. But secretive proceedings tainted by the use of torture are outside the system of justice on which the honor of this nation depends,” said Patricia Perry, mother of NYPD Officer John William Perry.
“I lost someone I dearly loved on September 11, and have waited too long to see those responsible brought to justice. But these special military tribunals that are stained by politics and deny detainees the basic American principle of due process smack of revenge rather than justice, and mock our legal system and those we lost,” said Valerie Lucznikowski, who lost her nephew, Adam Arias, on 9/11.
