A report by The Associated Press said that prosecutors had been urging a New York judge to bar the statement made by a self-described 9/11 attacks mastermind about Sulaiman Abu Ghaith. Abu Ghaith is being tried for his heavy involvement with the alleged plans to harm US nations. The Huffington Post said that the US government had filed the motion in the Manhattan federal court on Monday.
According to Fox News, the latest development in the Abu Ghaith trial was spurred by lawyers of Abu Ghait to call Khalid Sheikh Mohammed as their client's witness. Mohammed is currently detained in at Guantanamo Bay over terrorism-related charges stemming from the attacks that happened on September 11, 2011.
The Huffington Post pointed out that Mohammed did not initially want to respond to Abu Ghaith's lawyers with regard to allegations that their client, also the son-in-law of Osama bin Laden, had a major part in plotting bombing incidents on passenger aircraft. Abu Ghaith has pleaded not guilty to all charges filed against him, the UK news site said.
Mohammed claimed in a statement that was filed late Sunday that Abu Ghaith's involvement with terrorist Al Qaeda was his being the group's spokesman because of his engaging, fiery speeches. Mohammed added that Abu Ghaith's role did not extend to the terrorist group's military-like activities and denounced his involvement in the planning.
Should the federal court allow Mohammed's statements, it could reject prosecution's case, which argued that Abu Ghaith had top knowledge and helped out with conspiring to kill Americans, The Huffington Post said.
"(I never spoke with Abu Ghaith about the shoe bomb operation and) those tasked with giving statements to the media do not necessarily know all the details of an operation and are sometimes even unaware of the very existence of the operation," Mohammed stated.
