The Obama administration is under increasing pressure from both parties of Congress on where and how to prosecute the alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his four co-conspirators.
Holder said last November that the five terrorism suspects were to be transferred from U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to New York City for trials in a civilian federal court.
President Barack Obama has favored trying some terrorism suspects in civilian courts as a symbol of commitment to the rule of law, but critics contended that Mohammed could use the trial to air his political views and New Yorkers expressed their worries about security risks in a courthouse just blocks from the site of the World Trade Center attacks.
Mohammed is accused of masterminding the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington that took nearly 3,000 lives, which sparked wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and prompted former President George W. Bush's war on terror. The alleged architect of terror was captured in Pakistan in 2003.
Related:
Bin Laden claims responsibility for Christmas plane bombing attempt
CAIRO, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Al-Qaida leader claimed responsibility for a foiled attempt of bombing a U.S.-bound airplane on Dec. 25, and vowed further attacks against the United States, in an audio recording aired Sunday by pan-Arab al-Jazeera TV.
"From Osama to Obama ... If our messages would possibly be carried to you by words, we would not have carried them to you by planes," Osama bin Laden said in the tape. Full story
