Bellingham Herald : Pentagon rebuffs request to televise 9/11 trial from Guantanamo

Pentagon rebuffs request to televise 9/11 trial from Guantanamo

By CAROL ROSENBERG — The Miami Herald | November 26, 2012

MIAMI — A surrogate of Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Monday rejected a request by the Sept. 11 defense lawyers to let media organizations televise the Sept. 11 trial from the war court at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

William Lietzau, deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee policy, wrote the defense lawyers that the Pentagon provides ample transparency for the trials through news coverage, a remote viewing site at Fort Meade, Md., and a website that posts transcripts of the pre-trial proceedings within 24 hours of hearings.

"At this time, there are no plans to televise military commission proceedings," Lietzau wrote in a single-page response to the lawyers for five men accused of plotting the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

A total of 13 defense lawyers for the former CIA prisoners now facing military capital penalty proceedings wrote Panetta on Nov. 1 requesting that he use his authority as secretary of defense to enable the broadcasts.

The chief military commissions judge, Army Col. James L. Pohl, said at a hearing earlier this year that only Panetta could make that decision.

Lietzau said he was responding for Panetta.

The lawyers, who defend alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other men, argued that the trial, likely a year away, "is the most significant criminal trial in the history of our country." They argued there's a "pervasive distrust of these proceedings," and that the Guantanamo system has harmed the reputation of the United States.

"Allow the entire country, and world, to observe the proceedings for themselves," they wrote.

Lietzau responded that the war court was following U.S. military courts-martial and federal criminal practice. His letter was dated Nov. 20, but the defense lawyers said they received the reply Monday and provided a copy to The Miami Herald.

Army Brig. Gen. Mark Martins, the chief war crimes prosecutor, has opposed broadcasts in remarks that suggest cameras in the court could harm the dignity of the death-penalty proceedings.

Defense lawyers have said that the public might be surprised to realize how much of the proceedings will be held in closed session.

They also want wider scrutiny on the hybrid nature of the proceedings that borrow from both military and civilian justice.

The Guardian : Terror charge jail term for man carrying rocket blueprint

Terror charge jail term for man carrying rocket blueprint

Shenai Raif | The Guardian | July 18, 2007

A man who had blueprints for a rocket in his luggage at Luton airport was jailed yesterday for three and a half years on a terror charge. Yassin Nassari, 28, of Ealing, west London, was found guilty at the Old Bailey on Friday of having documents useful for terror.

London-born Nassari was said by the prosecution to be preparing to go abroad to fight non-Muslim soldiers in the expectation of becoming a terrorist martyr. But the jury cleared him of the more serious offence of having articles for terror.

His Dutch wife, Bouchra El Hor, 24, was cleared of failing to disclose information on terror.

Judge Gerald Gordon said Nassari had been described as a "Jack the Lad" and there was no evidence to show the material would be used for terror. But it was an offence to possess the material and "the sooner that is understood the better".

The couple and their five-month-old baby were stopped at the airport in May last year as they returned from trips to Syria and Holland. Nassari's hard drive was found and was later discovered to contain plans for building a missile similar to those used by Hamas in the Middle East, the Old Bailey was told. Nassari denied knowledge of the material, saying he had lent his computer to another man.

A letter from his wife, a university dropout, apparently encouraging him to become a martyr was also found in Nassari's possessions. But she told the court the letter was a work of fiction.

Aftab Jafferjee, prosecuting, said Nassari had studied at Westminster University, where the welfare officer had described him as "wearing western clothes and enjoying a drink". After a break from his studies he reappeared sporting long robes and headgear, referring to himself as emir of the student's Islamic society.

Lawrence McNulty, defending, said the missile information came off the internet and a lot more skill, material and equipment would have been needed to make it work.

Reuters : Chronology of major terrorism trials in Britain

Chronology of major terrorism trials in Britain

Reuters | July 9, 2007

Four men were convicted on Monday of plotting failed attacks on London's transport system in July 2005, designed to replicate Islamist suicide bombings two weeks earlier that killed 52 people.

Here is a chronology of recent verdicts in British terrorism trials.

March 2003 - Jamaican-born Sheikh Abdullah el-Faisal, a supporter of al-Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden, was sentenced to nine years in jail for incitement to murder by urging his followers to kill non-believers in a so-called holy war.

April 2003 - Two Algerians, Baghdad Meziane and Brahim Benmerzouga, were jailed for 11 years after being found guilty of raising cash for terrorism, making them the first people with suspected al Qaeda links to be imprisoned in Britain.

April 2005 - Kamel Bourgass, aka Nadir Habra, an al Qaeda-trained Algerian, was convicted of a plot to launch chemical and bomb attacks, after a global investigation across 17 countries. Bourgass was also found guilty in 2004 of the murder of detective Stephen Oake after his flat was raided in Manchester. The raid, police said, was linked to the discovery of ricin in London. Bourgass was sentenced to 22 years for the murder.

April 2005 - Briton, Saajid Badat, who admitted to conspiring with "shoebomber" Richard Reid to blow up airliners over the Atlantic - but had a change of heart before boarding his flight - was jailed for 13 years.

September 2005 - Andrew Rowe, a British Muslim convert, was found guilty of terrorist offences and sentenced to 15 years jail for possessing secret codes and a hand-written weapons handbook. British anti-terrorism officials described him as an "international warrior".

November 2006 - Dhiren Barot, a senior al Qaeda operative, who admitted a plot to blow up the New York Stock Exchange and carry out attacks in Britain with gas-filled limousines and a "dirty bomb", was jailed for a minimum of 30 years. April 2007 - Five Britons -- Omar Khyam, Anthony Garcia, Jawad Akbar, Waheed Mahmood and Salahuddin Amin -- were jailed for life for plotting al Qaeda-inspired bomb attacks on targets across Britain ranging from nightclubs to trains and a shopping centre.

June 2007 - Seven Britons linked to a plot to blow up U.S. financial institutions, including the New York Stock Exchange, and stage a series of attacks in Britain were jailed for a total of 136 years. Prosecutors said the men were part of a group headed by Dhiren Barot. The men were Mohammed Naveed Bhatti, Junade Feroze, Zia Ul Haq, Abdul Aziz Jalil, Nadeem Tarmohamed and Omar Abdur Rehman and Qaisar Shaffi.

July 2007 - Moroccan-born Younes Tsouli, Briton Waseem Mughal and Jordanian-born Tariq al-Daour were sentenced to a total of 24 years in prison for inciting terrorism over the Internet in the first case of its kind in Britain.

July 2007 - A court sentenced Omar Altimimi to nine years jail for possessing al Qaeda computer material, including documents suggesting hitting nightclubs and airports. Police described him as a failed asylum seeker living in northern England and a terrorist "sleeper".

July 2007 - Muktah Said Ibrahim, Yassin Hassin Omar, Ramzi Mohammed and Hussein Osman found guilty of conspiracy to murder in plotting an attack on London's transport system in July 2005 using bombs carried in rucksacks.

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