It is not clear how the reasoning behind Colonel Pohl’s decision to suppress the F.B.I. “If the government prohibits the defense from investigating witnesses, the proceeding becomes more like a play than a trial.”Still, an appeal by prosecutors seemed likely. In practice, Colonel Pohl wrote, only a few of the dozens of witnesses the defense asked to speak with agreed to talk under those conditions. The Sept. 11 case defendants offered to plead guilty in late 2008, but after the Obama administration took office, it tried to move the case to civilian court. After Congress blocked that option, the defendants were rearraigned before a Guantánamo tribunal in 2012 and pleaded not guilty.

Source: New York Times August 18, 2018 02:58 UTC