Judge at Guantanamo mulls pause in 9/11 case

PanARMENIAN.Net - A judge at Guantanamo Bay is considering whether to put preparations for the Sept 11 trial on hold because of problems with a Pentagon computer system used by lawyers in the case, the Associated Press reports.

Defense lawyers say they have lost data and have doubts about the security of their email.

The lawyers for the five prisoners charged with planning and aiding the attacks have asked the government to create a new, secure system. That could take at least three months and cost millions of dollars. The judge is hearing testimony on the issue Monday at the U.S. base in Cuba.

This is the sixth session of pretrial hearings in the case since the five men charged in the attacks were arraigned in May 2012. No trial date has been set.

In an audio recording posted on the Internet in July, al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri slammed U.S. treatment of hunger striking inmates at Guantanamo Bay and said the group would spare no effort to free them.

"The (hunger) strike by our brothers at Guantanamo unmasks the true ugly face of (the United States of) America," Zawahri said in an audio recording posted on an Islamist website and whose authenticity could not be verified.

"We pledge to God that we will spare no effort to free all our prisoners, on top of whom are Omar Abdel Rahman, Aafia Siddiqui, Khaled Sheikh Mohammed and every oppressed Muslim everywhere ...," he added, referring to prominent Islamist militants held by the United States.