GUANTÁNAMO, Cuba, Aug. 29 (Nationwide Times) — A military judge has ruled that statements Khalid Sheikh Mohammed made to FBI agents at Guantánamo Bay in 2007 were involuntary and cannot be used at trial, creating another obstacle in the long-delayed case over the Sept. 11 attacks.
Mohammed is a defendant in a U.S. military commission case at the naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Prosecutors accuse him and three co-defendants — Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak bin ‘Atash, Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi and Ali Abdul Aziz Ali — of offenses tied to the attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people. The supplied reports do not include the formal charging document.
Air Force Lt. Col. Michael Schrama, the military judge, excluded statements from a four-day FBI interrogation in January 2007, according to accounts of his ruling by lawyers and news organizations that reviewed or described its unclassified contents. The ruling itself was not publicly released in the supplied records.
Why the judge rejected the statements
Schrama wrote that prosecutors had not shown, by a preponderance of the evidence, that Mohammed’s statements to the FBI were voluntary. That legal standard means prosecutors had to show that it was more likely than not that the statements were made freely.
The judge described the questioning as an “unbroken continuation of the CIA’s psychological conditioning and severe coercion,” according to reports summarizing the ruling. He also found that FBI agents intentionally did not tell Mohammed that he had the right to remain silent, speak with a lawyer or understand that his statements could be used against him at trial.
The decision concerns the admissibility of the FBI statements. It does not, based on the supplied accounts, dismiss the case against Mohammed or his co-defendants. The available records also do not show what other evidence prosecutors may seek to use.
What happens next
Rear Adm. Aaron C. Rugh, the chief military prosecutor, said prosecutors would review the ruling and decide whether to appeal. Prosecutors were given five days to make that decision, with the possibility of seeking five additional days, according to reports of the proceedings.
The supplied records do not establish whether an appeal has been filed, whether prosecutors have requested more time or what position the defense has taken in response to the ruling.
Schrama has set June 5, 2028, for jury selection and the start of the trial, according to reports of a scheduling order issued during the week of Aug. 24. The judge rejected a prosecution request for a January 2027 trial date, the reports said.
Why the case has taken so long
Mohammed has been held at Guantánamo Bay since 2003, according to the supplied accounts. The case has been shaped by disputes over statements made during U.S. custody and the effect of earlier treatment by CIA personnel.
The ruling’s reported findings focus on whether the later FBI questioning was separated from that earlier treatment enough to make Mohammed’s statements voluntary. Schrama concluded that it was not, according to the descriptions of the ruling.
The Sept. 11 attacks took place in 2001. More than two decades later, Mohammed and the three other defendants are still awaiting trial. The exclusion of the FBI statements may affect the prosecution’s case, but the available records do not explain how central those statements are compared with other evidence.
The case therefore moves toward a trial date that is still more than a year away, while prosecutors consider whether to challenge the judge’s ruling. Until then, the military commission must continue resolving which evidence can be presented to a jury.
