Thaindian News

Washington, Apr 5 (ANI): US Attorney General Eric Holder has held the Congress responsible for not allowing the Obama administration to initiate trials of the alleged mastermind of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks and his accomplices in civilian courts, which eventually led the government to refer the cases to the Defense Department for trial.

Fox News quoted Holder as criticising Congress for imposing restrictions blocking any of the detainees from being tried in the U.S., saying that the “unwise and unwarranted restrictions” undermine the U.S. in counter-intelligence and counter-terror efforts.

He also said that as a native New Yorker, he knows as well as anyone the federal court’s capacity to try the suspects, adding that he is much more familiar with the cases than the congressional members or the public who opposed the trial in the civilian courts in the US.

“Do I know better than them? Yes. I respect their ability to disagree but they should respect that this is an executive branch function, a unique executive branch function,” Holder said.

The alleged 9/11 mastermind, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who has been imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since 2006, after being captured in Pakistan in 2003, and four alleged co-conspirators will now reportedly face prosecution by a military commission in Guantanamo.

“Prosecutors from both the Departments of Defense and Justice have been working together since the beginning of this matter, and I have full faith and confidence in the military commission system to appropriately handle this case as it proceeds,” Holder added.

The other terror suspects are Walid Muhammed Salih Mubarak Bin Attash, Ramzi Bin Al Shibh, Ali Abdul-Aziz Ali and Mustafa Ahmed Al Hawsawi. The five detainees are accused of killing 2,976 people, all named in an 81-page indictment dismissed and unsealed on Monday by a federal judge. (ANI)