Defense can talk to detainees
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Defense lawyers for an alleged Al Qaeda plotter won permission to question witnesses, including the self-proclaimed Sept. 11 mastermind, after a military judge threatened to postpone the trial.
The chief prosecutor of the war crimes tribunals said a lawyer for Osama bin Laden’s former driver, Salim Ahmed Hamdan, would get access to Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and other “high-value” detainees at the U.S. military prison in Cuba.
“We’ve come to the point where the government needs to move,” Judge Keith Allred, a Navy captain, told prosecutors, who had warned that security concerns could hamper efforts to arrange for a lawyer to question Mohammed before the trial begins Monday.
“I’ll continue the trial,” Allred warned sternly. “You can send your witnesses home.”
The chief prosecutor, Col. Lawrence Morris, replied, “We will comply with the judge’s direction.”
Hamdan, a Yemeni in his 30s, is charged with conspiracy and providing material support to terrorists. He faces life in prison if convicted.
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