Guantanamo: 26 Yemenis to Yemen, Nashiri to Military Trial for Cole bombing, Binalshibh to NY Federal Court
The Hill reports that 26 Yemeni detainees at Guantanamo will return to Yemen. Meanwhile other detainees will come to New York for trial in a federal court but USS Cole bomber Nashiri will have a military trial. Others deemed too dangerous to release will remain at Guantamo. Ramzi Binalshibh as a high value detainees in the 9/11 attacks will face trial in New York federal court as will Walid Bin Attash, USS Cole plotter.
WaPo Khalid Sheik Mohammed — the self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks — and four co-defendants will be tried in federal court in New York instead of a military commission, a federal official said early Friday.
Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, accused of orchestrating the bombing of the USS Cole when it was docked off the coast of Yemen in 2000, will be tried at a military commission, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the decisions have not yet been formally announced by the Department of Justice…
Administration officials say they expect that up to 40 of the detainees at Guantanamo Bay will ultimately be tried in either federal court or military commissions — possibly including federal courts in the District or Alexandria. Approximately 90 others have been cleared for repatriation or resettlement in a third country, according to an administration official…
That leaves up to 75 individuals remaining at Guantanamo who could continue to be held under the laws of war because they are deemed too dangerous to release but cannot be prosecuted because of evidentiary issues and limits on the use of classified material.
Out of about 100 Yemeni detainees, if 26 return and a few go to federal court, they’ll still be a number held at Gitmo after this latest round of shuffling.
