Judge in 9/11 Case at Guantanamo Weighs Splitting up Defendants and Holding Multiple Trials

A special US military tribunal at Guantanamo is weighing whether to hold separate trials for five accused plotters of the September 11 attacks, a defense lawyer said.

The men, who are being held at Guantanamo Bay, were formally charged earlier this month with crimes that include murder and terrorism. They face the death penalty if convicted for their roles in the Al-Qaeda attacks that claimed 2,976 lives in New York, Washington and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

“The Guantanamo Bay military commission issued an unusual order for the prosecution to show cause why defendants in the 9/11 case should not be severed,” James Connell, who represents Pakistani defendant Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, said in a statement.