The Defense Department announced today that charges have been sworn against six detainees at Guantanamo, alleged to be responsible for the planning and execution of the attacks upon the United States of America which occurred on Sept. 11, 2001. Those attacks resulted in the death of nearly 3,000 people. The charges allege a long term, highly sophisticated, organized plan by al Qaeda to attack the United States.
The accused are: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarek Bin ‘Attash, Ramzi Binalshibh, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi, and Mohamed al Kahtani.
Each of the defendants is charged with conspiracy and the separate, substantive offenses of: murder in violation of the law of war, attacking civilians, attacking civilian objects, intentionally causing serious bodily injury, destruction of property in violation of the law of war, terrorism and providing material support for terrorism.
The first four defendants, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarek Bin ‘Attash, Ramzi Binalshibh, and Ali Abdul Aziz Ali are also charged with the substantive offense of hijacking or hazarding a vessel.
All of the charges are alleged to have been in support of the attacks on the United States on Sept. 11, 2001.
Now that sworn charges have been received, the convening authority will review the charges and supporting evidence to determine whether probable cause exists to refer the case for trial by military commission. The chief prosecutor has requested that charges to be tried jointly and be referred as capital for each defendant. If the convening authority, Susan Crawford, in her sole discretion, decides to refer the cases as capital, the defendants will face the possibility of being sentenced to death.
The charge sheet details 169 overt acts allegedly committed by the defendants in furtherance of the Sept. 11 events.
The charges allege that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was the mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks by proposing the operational concept to Usama bin Laden as early as 1996, obtaining approval and funding from Usama bin Laden for the attacks, overseeing the entire operation, and training the hijackers in all aspects of the operation in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarek Bin ‘Attash is alleged to have administered an al Qaeda training camp in Logar, Afghanistan where two of the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers were trained. He is also alleged to have traveled to Malaysia in 1999 to observe airport security by U. S. air carriers to assist in formulating the hijacking plan.
Ramzi Binalshibh is alleged to have lived with the Hamburg, Germany, al Qaeda cell where three of the Sept. 11 hijackers resided. It is alleged that Binalshibh was originally selected by Usama bin Laden to be one of the Sept. 11 hijackers and that he made a “martyr video” in preparation for the operation. He was unable to obtain a US visa and, therefore, could not enter the United States as the other hijackers did. In light of this, it is alleged that Binalshibh assisted in finding flight schools for the hijackers in the United States, and continued to assist the conspiracy by engaging in numerous financial transactions in support of the Sept. 11 operation.
Ali Abdul Aziz Ali’s role is alleged to have included sending approximately $120,000 to the hijackers for their expenses and flight training, and facilitating travel to the United States for nine of the hijackers.
Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi is alleged to have assisted and prepared the hijackers with money, western clothing, traveler’s checks and credit cards. He is also alleged to have facilitated the transfer of thousands of dollars between the accounts of alleged Sept. 11 hijackers and himself on Sept. 11, 2001.
Mohamed al Kahtani is alleged to have attempted to enter the United States on August 4, 2001, through Orlando International Airport where he was denied entry. It is also alleged that al Kahtani carried $2,800 in cash and had an itinerary listing a phone number associated with Hawsawi.
If the convening authority refers the charges to trial, the prosecution bears the burden of proving the case beyond a reasonable doubt, which is the standard applied in all U.S. and military criminal trials.
In the military commissions process, every defendant has the following rights: The right to remain silent and to have no adverse inference drawn from it; the right to be represented by detailed military counsel, as well as civilian counsel of his own selection and at no expense to the government; the right to examine all evidence used against him by the prosecution; the right to obtain evidence and to call witnesses on his own behalf including expert witnesses; the right to cross-examine every witness called by the prosecution; the right to be present during the presentation of evidence; the right to have a military commission panel of at least five military members determine his guilt by a 2/3 majority, or in the case of a capital offense, a unanimous decision of a military commission composed of at least 12 members; and the right to an appeal to the Court of Military Commission Review, then through the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals to the United States Supreme Court.
These rights are guaranteed to the defendant under the Military Commissions Act, and are specifically designed to ensure that every defendant receives a fair trial, consistent with American and international standards of justice and the rule of law.
The Military Tribunal courtroom.
Military prosecutors at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp announced charges on Monday against six captives they claim were involved in the planning of the September 11 attacks. The men, each facing the death penalty, will be tried in a single group.

The move could cause legal problems, since the Bush Administration has admitted that at some of the confessions were given under torture. In 2006, a source in the Pentagon referred to several of the captives now facing prosecution as "unprosecutable" due to "the techniques" used to secure their confessions.

The administration confirmed last week that Khalid 
Sheikh Mohammed had been subjected to waterboarding - which it defines as an "Enhanced interrogation technique". The alleged planner of the September 11 attacks confessed to planning a number of other crimes. Included in his list of confessions were the failed shoe-bombing in England and 1993 bombing of the World Trade Centre, trying to assassinate Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Pervez Musharraf and Pope John Paul II, the beheading of reporter Daniel Pearl in Pakistan, the Nightclub bombing in Bali, plots against oil tankers in Singapore and an oil company owned by Henry Kissinger, plans to blow up the Panama Canal, Heathrow Airport, the Sear Towers in Chicago, the Empire State Building in New York and the Library Tower in Los Angeles, attacks against a number of nightclubs in Thailand, shooting down an Israeli plane, destroying suspension bridges and bombing a hotel in Kenya and targets in South Korea. He also confessed to attacks and plots in Kuwait, Australia, Turkey, Japan, South Korea and Indonesia. William Glaberson of ''The New York Times'' has suggested that the willingness to confess to every accusation presented against him might make it more difficult for prosecutors to establish the validity of his confessions.

Mohamed al-Kahtani, one of sixteen people accused of being a "20th hijacker", has recanted his confessions that he had ties to Al Qaeda, had been sent to serve as a hijacker, and that he recognised thirty other captives as bodyguards of Osama bin Laden. He has stated that he was tortured and his family was threatened - in order to force his confessions. A copy of his interrogation log documented that he had been subjected to almost two months of continuous sleep deprivation, with three shifts of interrogators working around the clock to keep him disoriented.  His interrogation log documents that he was bound to chairs and force-fed, and administered enemas and IVs, in order to keep his body functioning during his extended sessions..

Walid bin 'Attash faces charges that he helped run a training camp in Lowgar, Afghanistan that trained two of the hijackers, and that he observed airport security during a flight to Malaysia, to aid the hijackers.

Ramzi Binalshibh is accused of helping the attackers enroll in American flight schools, been in frequent communication with them helped finance their time in the United States.

Ali Abdul Aziz Ali is alleged to have helped finance the hijackers' stay in the United States, teaching them to find hotels, use travellers' cheques and fit into Western culture.

Mustafa al-Hawsawi, originally thought to be another alias of Ali's, is likewise accused of helping the hijackers buy Western clothing, sign up for credit cards and financing their stay before the attacks.

The charges will be referred to Susan J. Crawford, appointed the convening authority of the Guantanamo military commissions last year, to determine if there is probable cause for proceedings to continue.

The commissions were established in 2006, after the Supreme Court ruled in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld that the system of tribunals was illegal, violating both International and American laws designed to ensure the fair treatment and trials of captives. The tribunals have been criticized for only being used against a handful of detainees, and not reaching a verdict on any of the cases.