Judge weighs recombining trials for 9/11 suspects

DAVID DISHNEAU
Associated Press

FORT MEADE, Md. (AP) — A pretrial hearing for suspects in the Sept. 11 terror attacks is in recess until mid-week while the military judge decides whether to reconsider his decision to try one of the men separate from the other four.

Army Col. James Pohl heard arguments for about an hour Monday at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Prosecutors say legal issues peculiar to Ramzi Binalshibh (RAM’-zee bin-al-SHEEB’) can be resolved in a timely fashion without severing his case from the others. They say severance would unfairly delay justice for victims of the attacks.

Defense attorneys don’t object to Pohl’s July 24 order for a separate war-crimes trial for Binalshibh.

The hearing will reconvene Wednesday afternoon at the earliest.

The hearing was shown by video at Fort Meade, near Baltimore.

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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