A military judge denied a request Wednesday by defense lawyers for immediate access to the admitted mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks and two other top imprisoned terrorism suspects.The attorneys had sought to derail the latest effort to prosecute a driver for Osama bin Laden before a military tribunal at this isolated tropical outpost, but the judge, Navy Capt. Keith Allred, turned them down, citing "security obstacles."
The defense hoped to have Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two other so-called high-value detainees at Guantanamo testify to show their client, Salim Ahmed Hamdan, was not a hard-core member of al-Qaida and should not be prosecuted under the U.S. military tribunal system, said Charles Swift, one of the lawyers.
Their goal, Swift told the court, was to interview the people with the "absolute knowledge" of al-Qaida operations.
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