WASHINGTON (CNN) - U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder will announce Friday that five Guantanamo Bay detainees with alleged ties to the 9/11 attacks - including confessed mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed - will be tried in civilian court in New York, according to an Obama administration official.
Holder's news conference is scheduled for 11 a.m. ET, the official said. He will also announce that five other detainees held at the U.S. military detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, will be sent to military commissions for trial. No other details on those detainees or their charges were available.
The official was not named because he is not authorized to speak to the media.
When asked about the impending announcement on Friday, President Barack Obama would only say that Mohammed "will be subject to the most exacting demands of justice."
"The American people insist on it, and my administration will insist on it," Obama told reporters at a joint news conference in Tokyo, Japan, with Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama.
Mohammed is the confessed organizer of the September 11, 2001, attacks on
New York and Washington. But his confession could be called into question during a trial. A 2005 Justice Department memo - released by the Obama administration - revealed he had been waterboarded 183 times in March 2003. The controversial technique that simulates drowning has been called torture by Obama.
Mohammed is one of five defendants in the 9/11 attacks being held at the U.S. military detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The other four are Ramsi Binalshibh, Walid Muhammed bin Attash, Ali Aziz Abdul Ali, and Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi.
National Public Radio, citing "officials familiar with the situation," said all five defendants will be tried in the Southern District of New York - a short distance from where the twin World Trade Center towers once stood.
– CNN's Terry Frieden contributed to this report
From CNN Politics
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Great news and the entire world will see we have a great system!
As a New Yorker, I am proud that they will face justice in my state, where they belong. Terrorists are an extraordinary breed of criminals, but they ultimately a bunch of murderous gangsters. It was wrong to treat this as a military matter all this time. That only gave legitimacy to what these thugs stand for.
Sounds like a great plan; try the 9/11 detainees in NY. That will be a field day for the defense lawyers telling the judge that their client can't get a fair trial in NY where the attack happened, filing discovery motions for surveillance records, motions to exclude evidence based on torture, and so forth and so on with every one of them grounds for appeal to the Supreme Court.
And who will pay for all these teams of high profile defense lawyers and prosecuting attorneys? You got it, the American taxpayer. Maybe Obama will pay for it out of the stimulus funds and count it as a few more jobs created or saved. Let's see, there's the lawyer, his three clerks, his secretary, the cab driver to and from the courthouse, the waitress at lunch, the dry cleaner of his suit, etc. Could boost the total from 640,000 to an even 700,000 jobs by their math.
Good. It's the right Venue.
Now, where is Osama?
"will be subject to the most exacting demands of justice."
And what the hell is that supposed to mean?
By what definition? We know that Van Jones thinks justice means taking money from European-Americans and giving it to Native and African Americans.
Obama is on record thinking that the Civil Rights movement didn't go far enough on the economic and social justice scales.
So, what are the "most exacting demands" of justice.
In my book, for what this guy did, his trial and punishment should have already been meted out.
It would not surprise me one bit if this administration let these terrorists go free. As for waterboarding, I wonder what Obama would do if, God forbid, one of his daughters was taken hostage by a terrorist.
ATTENTION: Paranoid, wing nut cowards! Hide in your basements! The terrorists are coming!
Just kidding, they're not coming to the "real" America, they're coming to New York, where they'll be tried, convicted, and sent to hell.
Have a little faith in your country and constitution.
So what will be the charge against KSM be, 3000 counts of 1st degree murder?
Give me a break! What kind of idiots do we have running this country!
Holder isn't fit to be dog catcher. He needs to GO
and who is going to pay for this trial.................
this will take years......
dumb move, but stupid is as stupid does...........and this admin is stupid does
Victory for Holder and far left–loss for American citizens......We may as well invite Bin Laden on Larry King live–equal time with Ahmadinijad.....
Eric Holder needs to follow Craig's resignation...the resignation of CZAR Van Jones and Mao loving Anita Dunn....effective immediately ....the voters will handle the next presidency
said all five defendants will be tried in the Southern District of New York – a short distance from where the twin World Trade Center towers once stood
------------------------------–
Excellent location to have them tried! I do not know what took so long in getting them to a court of law. Maybe we were enjoying waterboarding them too much. There are sickos on both sides of this issue.
"But his confession could be called into question during a trial...'
It's almost as if they want him to be found "not guilty".
The US Military Commissions Act of 2006 doesn't allow for trial in Article III courts. It has to be a military court.
What is Obama trying to pull?
What a slap in the face to NY and 9-11 victims.
Sorry....this is what I meant to say...
Eric Holder needs to follow Craig's resignation....effective immediately.
Don't let door hit you on the rear end....America was pleased with the resignation of CZAR Van Jone and Mao loving Anita Dunn.... the voters will handle who be the next president.
How about that story regarding the GOP's ability since 1991 to have ELECTIVE ABORTIONS COVERED UNDER THEIR INSURANCE PLAN???????? Weren't these the same bible-thumping, scripture quoting, sanctity of life individuals that were making a HUGE hoopla about the REST OF US having the same option under our healthcare plan?
Since 1991.... Maybe since before then they've had this option.
GOP...how do YOU spell hipocracy??
Our troops died to bring this guy to the US to give him a civil trial! I dont think so. This is an outrage! Also, send the troops to Afganistan to support our troops! Who care what is going on within the Afganistan government! SUPPORT OUR TROOPS FIRST!
what a naive decision this is .... the sheep are leading the wolf into the sheep fold .... so that the sheep can decide how to deal with the wolf
...And eventually freed with a big "We're sorry" from Obumbles, as well as some money for their troubles.
Oh, and kudos to the Obumbles administration for making sure that even amongst this great shortage of H1N1 vaccinations, that the terrorists detained at Gitmo all got theirs. Hey, gotta keep his voting base healthy.
We spell it....hypocrisy!!! My bad, need more coffee.
Good luck getting a conviction, after their torture by Bush and Cheney, contrary to all international protocol.
Holder's a flaming liberal....I cannot believe he's bringing these clowns into the biggest target on the map. That will only fuel the fire for terrorists to strike NY again. Obama's entire administration has lost their minds
Bush and crowd will be nervous about info about their involvement in 9/11. Afterall many of these hijackers were on the CIA payroll including Bin Laden
So some of them might be your worst killer, but the Justice Department needs to stop playing around with them. Either do something about it now, or let them all loose. We have heard since Obama took office numerous ideas about how to handle the 9/11 detainees. First they were going to close it down, now some of them might get tried in NY, and earlier some of them were send to the tropics. If it took that many years after 9/11 to bring five defendants on trial, than I don't think they need to be tried at all.
I guess when they empanel the jury, obama can add another 12 people working to his sagging job numbers.
A totally stupid decision.
If they do this, they had better convict them before the end of Obama's one term. I have the feeling the next President of the United States will pull the plug on this fiasco and send these guys straight to hell where they belong. YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK AMERICA!
IT is going to be an embarassment of epic proportions if any of the defendants is acquitted in court and Obama has to set them free.
Obama is fast becoming the most dangerous threat america faces.
Yes, please give the people that killed our neighbors and want to kill more Americans the same liberties as us.
Makes perfect sense. This man is responsible for 2998 Americans burning to death. He deserves nothing.