9/11 PRE-TRIAL HEARINGS – Update: Day 1 NAVAL STATION GUANTANAMO BAY, CUBA
November 7, 2024
Hello from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. I am attending weeks one and two of the final three-week session of the 9/11 pre-trial hearings. This is my fourth trip in twelve months.
After a three-day threatening weather related delay, the final 2024 session of pre-trial hearings in the 9/11 case, regarding the four (of five) accused terrorists detained in the detention center at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Station, Cuba, has finally commenced.
The docket previously planned for this two to three-week session was set to finally hear testimony from forensic psychologist Dr. Michael Welner, an expert witness called on by the prosecution in 2021 as a consultant to review records and counter the defense arguments to dismiss confession statements made by the accused after their arrival to the military detention center in Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in 2007. The motion to dismiss is based on the CIA’s RDI (Rendition, Detention, and Interrogation) and EIT (Enhanced Interrogation Techniques) practices at black sites throughout the Middle East from 2002-2006. Dr. Welner is the last witness to provide suppression testimony in the pre-trial hearings phase of war court. This testimony is mostly focused on the one accused (Ali/Baluchi- AAA) who has not yet entered a PTA (Pre-trial Agreement). Yesterday, military Judge Matthew N. McCall announced his ruling that the Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, did not have the legal authority to withdraw three plea agreements reached with Khalid Shaikh Mohammad (KSM), Walid Mohammad Salih Mubarek Bin ‘Attash (MBA), and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi (MAH), which had been approved by the Convening Authority, Brig. Gen (Ret.) Susan Escallier, on July 31, 2024. This weekend, the three plea deals were re-instated, and the pre-trial phases for the three defendants will end upon their pleas being entered to the court at a date to be set by the Judge.
With the individual plea deals for three out of four of the current detainees pretrial agreements (PTA’s) reinstated, the need for further testimony is eliminated, therefore their pre-trial hearings cease. The remaining detainee, Ali Abdul Ali (AAA), has not entered a PTA, therefore his pre-trial hearings will continue. The fifth accused, Ramzi Bin al Shibh, remains removed from pre-trial hearings due to extreme psychiatric issues.
Today, Dr. Michael Welner began the first of a prospective four to six days of testimony. Court was called into session at 9 AM. KSM, Mustafa Al Hawsawi, Walid Bin ‘Attash, and Ali Abdul Ali were present beside their defense teams. Judge McCall stated that given we were three-days behind, Dr. Welner’s testimony (delayed from the previous session October 7-11 due to Hurricane Milton), takes priority and will proceed through the today, Friday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and likely Wednesday. Plea deal discussions are taking place concurrently among counsel and will be addressed by the court Thursday and/or Friday, addressing KSM’s Pre-trial agreement (PTA), possibly stating his plea and giving a detailed confession of his crimes in the courtroom.
If the detainees die before sentencing, they will be deemed not guilty and repatriated.
Dr, Welner will be reporting with counsel from the Remote Hearing Room (RHM) in Washington, D.C. The day’s testimony primarily consisted of general witness integrity housekeeping, basically a five-hour oral resume, ending with lead defense attorney, Mr. James Connell (Ali Abdul Aziz Ali), repeated objections to the presentation of reference documents utilized by Dr. Welner in his research and conclusive reports. Dr. Welner articulately provided detailed information about his education, experiences, scope of practice, definitions of various forms of psychology practice; clinical psychology, forensic psychology, and pharmacological psychology. In addition, Dr. Welner discussed “disputed confessions” and psychiatric diagnosis’. Disputed confessions include false confessions that fall into several categories including: forced, coerced, internalized, voluntary (for reasons of psychosis and notoriety), and leveraged false confessions. He also discussed various forms of mass homicide including ideological mass homicide, described as large-scale killing in dramatic display for the purpose of media coverage and notoriety, not for the sake of killing. “Finding themselves supported in various ways, their killing is not instrumental unless it involves a spectacle.”
What’s next for the the three accused who have entered PTA’s? Presenting plea deals in this case is like no other case in history. It does not mean that the cases stop, and crucial evidence ceases to be litigated and presented to the court and families. Once the confessions are entered, ending the hearing phase, the trial and sentencing phases become integrated into an extended sentencing phase, because more evidence needs to be presented. Sources indicate that the prosecution gave all evidence and discovery to the court in 2017. Time and circumstance has stretched the presentation and motions to accept and/or dismiss evidence and witness testimony. In addition, the court will present victim impact statements from select family members.
For the three accused with PTA’s, The discovery phase is over. However, the defense still has to present the case for the purpose of jury in attempts to mitigate the validity of convictions and terms of sentencing. Lead prosecutor, Clayton Trivett explains that the accused will argue for terms of the sentence for 12-18-months until sentenced, followed by the sentencing hearings that will take 4+- months. Once this is complete, they are no longer detainees but prisoners. While these “deals” strike out possibility of the death penalty, they offer finality before they die.
Complexities of death penalty sentencing will make it unlikely to occur in any of our lifetimes. If the detainees die before sentencing, they will be deemed not guilty and repatriated.
The prosecution is advocating for 3, 341 years for each of our family members murdered including a calculation of the number of people who have died since. The confinement center at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base will always be there. The department of Defense (DOD) has restrictions in place to keep the prisoners from transfer to Supermax prison in Colorado. The prisoners will be in solitary confinement without communal activities, (which is what the PTA’s are trying to avoid). This is their likely fate, which is ultimately decided by a military prison corrections committee.
Today’s court session ended at 15:30 (3:30 PM). Court resumes tomorrow at 9 AM.
