Accused 9/11 plotter Ramzi bin al-Shibh isn’t fit for Guantanamo trial because of mental illness, board finds
One of the men accused of conspiring to commit the 9/11 terrorist attacks is mentally unfit to stand trial or assist attorneys in his defense in a capital trial at the Guantanamo Bay military prison, a state medical association has found.
The case against Ramzi bin al-Shibh has been ongoing since 2008.
He is accused of organizing the Hamburg cell of the terrorist attack, researching US flight schools, wire money to some of the 19 9/11 hijackers and leaking information to al-Qaeda leaders in Afghanistan.
The control tower of the Camp VI detention center is seen April 17, 2019 at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba.
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In April, a military judge in the case ordered three mental health experts to examine the man’s condition, while US officials prosecuted him along with 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and three others.
Three people who saw the report said a military medical board filed a secret report on Friday suggesting that Mr bin al-Shibh suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder with “psychotic features”. The New York Times.
The results could convince Colonel Matthew N. McCall, the judge overseeing the case, to remove bin al-Shibh from the trial and try him separately from the other four alleged conspirators.
Lawyers for Mr bin al-Shibh allege the man was harassed with noise, vibration and other destabilizing techniques during his US detention.
During his death sentence, he disrupted the preliminary hearings by outbursts.
Mr bin al-Shibh was captured in Karachi in September 2002 and alleges he was tortured in captivity at US-affiliated facilities in Afghanistan, Jordan, Poland and Romania. according to The Rendition Project.
He came to Guantanamo in 2006
The complications in his prosecution are the latest to occur at the controversial island jail.
Last week a military judge dismissed the confession of a man who admitted to having planned the attack USS Cole The bombing revealed the recording was marred by CIA torture.
