Suspected Terrorists to Face Hearings

Family members of missing Pakistanis hold a rally outside Fasial mosque where Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf offered Eid prayers in Islamabad, Pakistan, Wednesday, Oct 25, 2006. According to families, their loved ones had been picked up by Pakistani security agencies during the anti al-Qaida raids in March 2003 and some of them are in Guantanamo Bay detention facilities. (AP Photo/B.K.Bangash) (B.k.bangash - AP)

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba -- Fourteen high-profile suspected terrorists recently transferred to the Guantanamo detention center are expected to face hearings soon, military officials said Wednesday.

Brig. Gen. Ed Leacock, deputy commander of detention operations at Guantanamo Bay, said officials are gathering evidence for the hearings now. Officials have also identified individuals who could work with the men as their representatives during the hearings, but no appointments have been made yet.

It was not clear Wednesday whether any of the 14 men have been questioned by the military interrogators. The hearings _ officially called Combatant Status Review Tribunals _ for the 14 men would determine whether or not they are enemy combatants, and therefore subject to a military trial.

The 14 men include Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who allegedly planned the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, as well as the alleged architect of the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole and the alleged plotter of the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.

They had been held in CIA custody at secret locations, and were transferred several weeks ago to the Guantanamo Bay detention center in southeastern Cuba.

Military leaders, who took a few reporters on a tour of the detention center Wednesday, said the 14 high-profile detainees have not created any problems for the guards. And they said other detainees know the men are there, but have had little reaction to that.

The defense officials, including Cully Stimson, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs, also would not say where the men are being held at the facility _ which includes five separate camps and a sixth one to be completed in a few months, a maximum security building. Some portions of the camps are not being used because of ongoing repairs and upgrades, including fixing damage done during an uprising by some 20 detainees earlier this year.

Stimson also said he expects military tribunals for some of the other detainees could begin as early as next spring. Officials have drafted new rules and procedures for the military trial that were authorized by a law signed last week by President Bush.

The Supreme Court ruled in June that trying detainees in military tribunals violated U.S. and international law, so Bush urged Congress to change the law. Six weeks later, after a highly publicized dispute with key Republicans over the terms of the bill, Bush signed the new law.

Leacock said engineers and planners have been at the facility this week and would be making recommendations for a courthouse complex for the military commissions when they begin next year.

The plans would include housing and media facilities, as well as added security.

Two options would be presented to Pentagon leaders that could include anywhere from a few to 10 new courtrooms. Stimson said there was "very little difference between the two" options.