Five alleged 9/11 plotters to be tried in civilian court in New York

In announcing the decision, Atty. Gen. Eric Holder says prosecutors will likely seek the death penalty. GOP lawmakers quickly criticize the move, saying it could endanger the public.

Reporting from Washington - The plotters of the 9/11 attacks will be tried as terrorists and criminals in a federal court in Manhattan, just blocks from the site of one of the terrorists' targets, the World Trade Center, U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric Holder announced today.

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FOR THE RECORD: An earlier version of this article said Anthony Romero is president of the ACLU. He is the executive director.

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"I expect we will ask for the death penalty," he said. "They must face the ultimate justice."

Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, and four other top alleged conspirators have been held for years in secret detention camps overseas, and, most recently, at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba.

After a year of internal debate, Holder said the Obama administration decided they can be tried in a civilian court under American criminal law. "I have every confidence we can hold these trials safely in New York," Holder said.

Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill were quick to criticize the decision. Bringing "the 9/11 conspirators to the U.S. to stand trial could endanger the American people," said Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), the ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee. Bringing them to the United States "expands their constitutional rights and could result in shorter sentences," he added.

But the American Civil Liberties Union called the move a "major victory for due process and the rule of law."

"We can now finally achieve the real and reliable justice that Americans deserve," said Anthony Romero, the ACLU's executive director.

Separately, Holder said the men accused of carrying out the 2000 attack on the U.S. destroyer Cole in Yemen will be tried in a military court. The attorney general said that because that crime took place overseas and involved a military target, the military's legal venue was more appropriate.

But Holder said it made more sense to try the accused 9/11 plotters in New York, where civilians were targeted. "Cases are typically tried in the place where the offense occurred," he said.

One complication for prosecutors , however, is that Mohammed has been waterboarded while in custody, and any information he disclosed during these sessions almost certainly will be barred from his trial.

The others due to be tried in New York include Ramzi Binalshibh, accused of wiring money from Europe to the men who carried out the 9/11 hijackings.

Two planes struck the World Trade Center in New York City, a third crashed into the Pentagon in Virginia and the fourth crashed in a field in Pennsylvania.

"This is the toughest decision I have had to make as attorney general," Holder said.

david.savage@latimes.com

josh.meyer@latimes.com

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