WASHINGTON: A judge at the US military tribunal in Guantanamo Bay on Thursday ruled that a Yemeni detainee who was tortured by the CIA is unfit to stand trial in a death-penalty case, US media reported.
Ramzi bin Al-Shibh, 51, had been scheduled to be one of five defendants in a trial related to the September 11, 2001, attacks on US cities by Al Qaeda that left almost 3,000 people dead.
But Col. Matthew McCall, a military judge, said the prisoner was too psychologically damaged to help defend himself, The New York Times reported.
Doctors at the US base on the eastern tip of Cuba diagnosed Bin Al-Shibh with post-traumatic stress disorder and secondary psychotic features, as well as a delusional disorder.
The military psychiatrists said his condition left him “unable to understand the nature of the proceedings against him or cooperate intelligently” with his legal defense team, the Times reported.
Bin Al-Shibh has for years complained of being “tormented by invisible forces that caused his bed and cell to vibrate and that stung his genitals, depriving him of sleep,” the paper added.
Bin Al-Shibh’s defense lawyer has claimed that his client was tortured by the CIA and went insane as a result of what the agency called enhanced interrogation techniques, that included sleep deprivation, waterboarding and beatings.
He had been due to face pretrial proceedings on Friday with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, believed to be the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, and three other defendants. Their hearing will proceed as scheduled, the paper said.
Bin Al-Shibh was accused of helping organize the Al Qaeda cell in Hamburg, Germany, that hijacked one of two passenger jets that crashed into the World Trade Center in New York.
Another suicide airliner attack targeted the Pentagon in Washington, and a fourth plane crashed in rural Pennsylvania when passengers overpowered the hijackers.
9/11 detainee tortured by CIA ruled unfit for trial: report
https://arab.news/m8w3e
9/11 detainee tortured by CIA ruled unfit for trial: report
- Ramzi bin Al-Shibh, 51, had been scheduled to be one of five defendants in a trial related to the September 11, 2001
- Military judge said the prisoner was too psychologically damaged to help defend himself
Pull him off TV: Steve Bannon shuts down Sen. Lindsey Graham
- Trump’s former chief strategist called for the senator to be registered as a foreign agent
DUBAI: Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon called on Tuesday for US Senator Lindsey Graham to be registered as a foreign agent of the Israeli government, escalating a growing conservative backlash against the senator’s vocal support for Israel.
Speaking on his podcast “War Room,” Bannon said Graham should be “pulled off of television,” adding: "This is dangerous… because you have guys like Lindsey Graham and dozens more that are doing the wrong thing.”
In a Fox News interview on Monday, Graham said: “To all the antisemites, to all the isolationists… I’m not with you, I’m with Israel, I will be with Israel to our dying day.”
Graham also urged Gulf Arab states to join military action against Iran. “What I want you to do in the Middle East, to our friends in Saudi Arabia and other places, [is] step forward and say, ‘this is my fight too, I join America, I’m publicly involved in bringing this regime down,’” he said.
In a post on X, Graham questioned the value of a US defense agreement with Saudi Arabia following the evacuation of the American embassy in Riyadh, writing: “Why should America do a defense agreement with a country like the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that is unwilling to join a fight of mutual interest?”
Faisal Abbas, editor-in-chief of Arab News, responded to Graham’s comments in a Sky News interview, saying: “He flip flops so much, it’s actually entertaining.”
“On one hand, he says he will never set foot in Saudi Arabia. The next day, he’s here signing multimillion-dollar deals.”
“I don’t think anyone here takes him seriously,” Abbas added.
He warned Graham to be careful what he wished for: “Do you really want Saudi Arabia involved in this war putting our oil facilities at risk or do you want us stabilizing the energy markets?”
Graham pressed further, warning that inaction would carry a price. “Hopefully Gulf Cooperation Council countries will get more involved as this fight is in their backyard. If you are not willing to use your military now, when are you willing to use it?”
“Hopefully this changes soon. If not, consequences will follow.”
Graham's remarks drew sharp criticism from Bannon and others including podcast host Megyn Kelly.
She questioned on X whether Graham was overstepping his authority as a senator, writing: “When did Lindsay Graham become our president?”
Kelly also said Graham had threatened Lebanon, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, the wider Arab region, and Spain within a 24-hour period.
The problem with Graham “isn’t (just) that he’s a homicidal maniac, it’s that Trump likes and is listening to him,” she said in another post.
