9/11 Suspect Found Unfit to Stand Trial in Death-penalty Case After Lawyer Argues 'CIA Torture' Made Him 'Delusional and Psychotic'
A suspected mastermind behind the September 11, 2001 terror attacks was found unfit to stand trial.
Sept. 22 2023, Published 2:00 p.m. ET
A suspected mastermind behind the September 11, 2001 terror attacks was found mentally unfit to stand trial this week by a military judge, RadarOnline.com has learned.
Ramzi bin al-Shibh, 51, was one of five defendants facing the death penalty for his alleged involvement in organizing the 9/11 terror attacks that left nearly 3,000 people dead 22 years ago.
Ramzi bin al-Shibh was one of five defendants facing the death penalty for his alleged involvement in organizing the 9/11 terror attacks.
According to the New York Times, al-Shibh was charged as an accomplice in the 9/11 attacks and was accused of helping to organize a cell of hijackers in Hamburg, Germany.
The leader of the cell later hijacked Flight No. 11 on the morning of September 11 and flew the passenger jet into the World Trade Center.
The military judge overseeing the case, Colonel Matthew McCall, ruled that al-Shibh was ineligible for the death penalty because he was “too psychologically damaged” to defend himself in court.
David Bruck, al-Shibh’s criminal defense attorney, previously claimed that the CIA “tortured” the suspected 9/11 organizer and made him “delusional and psychotic.”
David Bruck, al-Shibh’s criminal defense attorney, claimed that the CIA “tortured” the suspected 9/11 organizer.
Bruck argued that the prisoner had a “mental disease or defect” that left him “unable to understand the nature of the proceedings against him or cooperate intelligently” with his legal team as a result of the alleged torture conducted by the CIA.
According to Bruck, al-Shibh was left a “broken man” following his CIA detention from 2002 to 2006.
The 9/11 suspect was reportedly held in solitary confinement, deprived of sleep, and allegedly forced to stand “chained and in a diaper” for three days at a time.
Bruck also described al-Shibh as “so trapped in an endless cycle of sleep deprivation” that he could “not help mount a defense.”
Photo taken shortly after a hijacked passenger jet was flown into the World Trade Center 22 years ago.
“It is no longer possible to deny that the C.I.A. torture program did profound harm to the people subjected to it,” al-Shibh’s lawyer said following the judge’s ruling on Thursday. “There is nothing new about his condition now.”
“He has been like this the whole time,” Bruck added. “It has taken this long to admit it.”
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Although Colonel McCall did not comment on Bruck’s claim that al-Shibh was “broken” as a result of torture allegedly conducted by the CIA, the military judge did rule that the 9/11 detainee was unfit to stand trial.
“The totality of the facts demonstrates an accused who is wholly focused on his delusions,” the judge wrote in an 11-page ruling on Thursday. “Again and again, he focuses his counsel’s work on stopping his delusional harassment, which demonstrates the impairment of his ability to assist in his defense.”
Then-President Bush and the former First Lady laying out a wreath in NYC following the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.
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Meanwhile, Colonel McCall ordered pretrial proceedings to continue starting on Friday with Khalid Shaikh Mohammed – another suspected 9/11 mastermind accused of being behind the hijacking plot – and three additional defendants.
All four remaining defendants face the death penalty if found guilty of conspiring to help carry out the 9/11 terror attacks 22 years ago.
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