A suspect believed to be one of the masterminds behind the September 11 attacks has been deemed mentally unfit to stand trial by a military judge based on a recommendation from a medical panel.
The panel announced earlier this week that Ramzi bin al-Shibh, 51, had become psychotic and diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after being ‘tortured’ by the CIA at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
His hearing was due to start on Friday, he was on trial together with four others. Colonel Matthew McCall agreed with the panel’s findings that al-Shibh’s mental state meant he would not be able to fully participate in his own defense or even enter a plea.
A medical board said the suspect had become “delusional and psychotic,” reports The New York Times.
Defense lawyers argue that the best hope of al-Shibh, a Yemeni accused of organizing a cell of the September 11, 2001, hijackers, regaining standing to stand trial is a move likely to be distasteful to some Americans will find: that he be provided with trauma care after torture and no longer subjected to solitary confinement.
Ramzi bin al-Shibh, 51, declared unfit to stand trial in death penalty case after Guantanamo Bay
The report also said al-Shibh would be “unable to understand or intelligently cooperate with the nature of the proceedings against him.”
The trial of his co-defendants, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, believed to be one of the key figures in the attack,
Al-Shibh is from Yemen and has been in custody since September 2002 when he was arrested in Pakistan. Four years later he was transferred to Guantanamo Bay, where he has remained ever since.
During that time, the suspect “went insane as a result of what the agency called enhanced interrogation techniques, including sleep deprivation, waterboarding and assault,” his lawyers said.
The report also said that al-Shibh “would not be able to understand the nature of the proceedings against him or cooperate intelligently.”
In 2008, al-Shibh made headlines when he delivered an unhinged tirade during a hearing at the military base in Cuba. Since then, his mental state has been a problem
In 2008, al-Shibh made headlines when he delivered an unhinged tirade during a hearing at the military base in Cuba. Since then, his mental state has been a problem.
He is accused of organizing an Al Qaeda cell in Hamburg, Germany, that would eventually hijack one of the commercial airliners that crashed into the World Trade Center.
Shortly after these attacks, the administration of then US President George W. Bush established a prison camp at the military outpost at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
It has been the target of numerous claims of human rights abuses against prisoners.
On Tuesday, Al-Shibh’s lead lawyer, David Bruck, told the court that the diagnosis creates “a moment of truth” and an opportunity for the country to reckon with the damage caused by allowing torture.
On September 6, the White House said President Joe Biden had refused to approve or deny defense lawyers’ demands in plea negotiations to settle the case.
They sought guarantees that all five men would receive care for the physical and mental damage caused by their torture, and that they would be spared solitary confinement in the future.
Biden was uneasy about accepting the terms of the plea from those responsible for the deadliest attack on the United States since Pearl Harbor, a White House National Security Council official said.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.
Defense and prosecution attorneys had negotiated a possible deal in which the defendants would plead guilty in exchange for being spared the death penalty.
Some family members of the 9/11 victims objected to the plea negotiations. Conservatives blamed the Biden administration for allowing the negotiations to proceed.
Logistical challenges and legal questions have delayed the commission in this Guantánamo case. That includes the question of how much evidence was rendered inadmissible by torture while in CIA custody.
The case has had a succession of military judges, with the fourth announcing Tuesday that he will retire in April.