Confrontation between the Central Intelligence Agency and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, the scandal surrounding Guantanamo Bay prison, has resulted in a trial of those accused of committing the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks cannot be held to this day.
This was told by retired U.S. Air Force psychologist, architect of the CIA interrogation program James Mitchell. His words are quoted by The New York Times.
Five accused in the organization of the largest terrorist attack in history were captured in Pakistan back in 2002 and 2003. The Central Intelligence Agency immediately sent them to one of its secret prisons. The defendants had been there for years. The CIA deliberately kept them out of the reach of the courts. The security forces believed that the prisoners might have information about another attack, Al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden.
“The CIA was indifferent to the trial”, – said James Mitchell.
In addition, the situation was complicated by the conflict between the FBI and the CIA regarding secret prisons. Mitchell noted that the department was ready to step on the brink of legality and even stepped over it. When it came to trial, it turned out that the office itself was also at risk. Only Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, accused of planning the attacks, was tortured almost 200 times with water. At the same time, all the defendants were beaten and held in conditions that were contrary to the norm. This allowed lawyers to challenge information obtained from interrogations held in the process. The lawyers claimed that the CIA had forced the prisoners to confess.
It went so far that the U.S. Congress passed a law banning federal trials of detainees at Guantanamo. As a result, the case was completely restarted in the spring of 2012. But even after that, the difficulties did not disappear. In particular, the Central Intelligence Agency refused to transfer materials, citing national security measures.
The lawyers expected that the trial would be accelerated when the authorities disclosed information on the “Black site” program, which implied the creation of scandalous secret CIA prisons. The information was indeed made public, but the 500-page document was largely redacted and could only serve as a road map for lawyers.
Now, the Coronavirus pandemic has also made adjustments to the process. Access to Guantanamo Bay had been blocked. Consequently, there is no access to the defendants. Most of the preliminary work has been suspended. In addition, last month the Presiding Judge announced his resignation. Plans to start the trial have been delayed until 11 January 2021. The next judge, however, will be the fourth to take up the case.