Defense Lawyers Say Charges Dropped Against 9/11 Suspect Due to Torture

Guantanamo/Detainees

Defense Lawyers Say Charges Dropped Against 9/11 Suspect Due to Torture

Posted May 14, 2008, 05:47 am CDT
By Debra Cassens Weiss

Defense lawyers say charges have been dropped against a detainee suspected in the Sept. 11 attacks because evidence against him was obtained by torture.

The Pentagon announced yesterday its decision to dismiss charges against Mohammed al-Qahtani, suspected of plotting to become the 20th hijacker on Sept. 11. No reason was given for the decision, Reuters reports. He was stopped by immigration officials in August 2001 as he tried to enter the United States and placed on a flight out of the country, Reuters reports. He was later captured in Afghanistan.

Officials close to the case told the Washington Post the case against Qahtani was weak because most of the evidence against him consisted of coerced confessions. Defense lawyers told the Post their client likely will not be tried because he was subjected to aggressive interrogation techniques such as stress positions, nudity, long-term solitary confinement and intimidation by dogs.

Defense lawyer Army Lt. Col. Bryan Broyles told the newspaper the entire case against Qahtani was based on “evidence derived from torture."

"In six-plus years, the evidence comes down to what they beat out of him," he said. "The prosecution evidence was entirely unreliable and inadmissible."

Murder and conspiracy charges against five other detainees accused in the attacks have been approved. Some of those men were also subjected to harsh interrogations, but “clean teams” of new investigators were able to gather incriminating evidence in interviews based on “rapport-building methods,” the Post article says.

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