Charges dropped for 20th alleged 9/11 hijacker

But five other suspects, including the alleged mastermind, face the death penalty at the troubled Guantanamo Bay tribunal.
By Carol J. Williams
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

May 14, 2008

One judge in the Guantanamo Bay military tribunal has threatened to suspend the case against a Canadian terrorism suspect if Pentagon prosecutors continue withholding evidence from the defense.

Another judge has disqualified an Air Force general from advising the war-crimes court because of what he agreed was the general's politically motivated "unlawful command influence."

On Tuesday, the Pentagon lawyer in charge of the military tribunal approved charges that carry the death penalty against confessed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four alleged co-conspirators but dropped them against the alleged "20th hijacker" without saying why. Mohammed Qahtani in February had been designated for prosecution along with the others.

As the six-year effort to bring alleged terrorists to justice crawls toward its first trial next month, military jurists have been distancing themselves from the prosecutorial juggernaut that appeared to have been launched earlier this year to bring swift convictions before the November election.

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