Guantánamo Court Pushes USS Cole Trial Over 17 Deaths as Video Testimony Tests Death-Penalty Norms
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Oct 2
Guantánamo Court Pushes USS Cole Trial Over 17 Deaths as Video Testimony Tests Death-Penalty Norms
1 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Oct 2
Summary
Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri’s long-delayed Guantánamo case is finally moving toward trial, putting the military court’s unusual rules at the center of the prosecution over the 2000 USS Cole bombing.
Many witnesses are expected to testify by video because the court can compel only government employees to travel to the U.S. base in Cuba, even though legal experts say U.S. death-penalty trials generally require in-person testimony.
Nashiri, a Saudi accused of orchestrating the attack that killed 17 sailors, could remain detained even if acquitted because Guantánamo prisoners can be held indefinitely as wartime detainees.
Defense lawyers want prospective military jurors told that a separate national security review panel — not the court — decides whether detainees are too dangerous to release, underscoring how far the case departs from ordinary U.S. criminal proceedings.