U.S. President Barack Obama abondoned its campaign pledge on Monday, agreeing to try a Sept. 11 suspect in a military tribunal at Guantanamo, not in a civilian court.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder blamed lawmakers for the policy reversal, saying their December decision to block funding for prosecuting the 9/11 suspects in a New York court "tied our hands" and forced the administration to resume military trials.
His announcement was an embarrassing reversal of the administration's decision in November 2009 to try Sept. 11 suspect Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others.
The decision to abandon civilian prosecution was an admission that Obama has not been able to overcome political opposition to his effort to close the prison for suspects and so-called enemy combatants at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, a key 2008 campaign promise. It came on the day he kicked off his campaign for re-election in 2012.
Obama has called the Guantanamo Bay facility, set up by his predecessor President George W. Bush, a recruiting symbol for anti-American groups and said allegations of prisoner mistreatment there had tarnished America's reputation.
He promised to close the prison by the end of his first year in office, but that deadline passed with no action. The prison still holds 172 people, down from 245 when Obama took office in January 2009.
Holder said he still believed the 9/11 suspects would best be prosecuted in U.S. civilian courts, despite strong congressional opposition.
Captain John Murphy, the chief prosecutor of the office of military commissions, said his office would swear charges in the near future against the five suspects for their alleged roles in the 2001 attacks.
In addition to Mohammed, a suspect kidnapped from Pakistan in 2003, and bin Attash, the others are Ramzi Binalshibh, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali and Mustafa Ahmed al Hawsawi.
Agencies
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