Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-professed mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, will be tried by a military commission at Guantanamo Bay instead of in a US civilian court, a US official said.
President Barack Obama had tried, and failed, to overcome objections by Republicans and some of his fellow Democrats in Congress to transferring some detainees to US prisons and trying Mohammed and others in federal courts.
On March 7, Obama reluctantly lifted a two-year freeze on new military trials at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
The US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said US Attorney General Eric Holder would formally make the announcement on Mohammed’s trial at Guantanamo at 2 p.m. (1900 GMT) on Monday.
Holder announced in late 2009 that Mohammed and four of his alleged co-conspirators would be tried in a federal court in the heart of Manhattan, sparking concerns about security and about giving them full US legal rights.
Mohammed, an al Qaeda leader who was captured in Pakistan in 2003, has been imprisoned at the US military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package. 