Sept. 11 suspect to be tried in military court
A Manhattan federal judge ordered the dismissal of a grand jury indictment of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington, as the government announced that he will face a military tribunal.
The department said it moved to drop the indictment after the administration decided that Sheikh Mohammed and four others would be tried instead by a U.S. military commission at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
The indictment had been returned under seal by a federal grand jury in New York on Dec. 14, 2009, the department said. It was secret until it was unsealed on Monday.
The other defendants were Walid bin Attash, Ramzi Binalshibh, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali and Mustafa Ahmed al Hawsawi, the department said.
The 10-count indictment, which totaled more than 80 pages, charged the defendants with conspiracy to kill Americans and "conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism transcending national boundaries."
According to the indictment, prosecutors planned to seek the death penalty. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder had previously said the death penalty would be sought.