Lawyer questions al-Qaida suspect's competence before USS Cole trial

Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 15 Oct, 22:02 · Archive

The lawyer for the suspected organiser of the 2000 USS Cole bombing has asked for the trial to be delayed pending a competence assessment.

Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri is scheduled to stand trial this month for organising the al-Qaida attack that killed 17 U.S. sailors on the USS Cole destroyer off Yemen in 2000. He faces a possible death penalty, and the proceedings at a U.S. Navy base in Cuba, where he is detained, could last up to five weeks.

Nashiri's attorney, Allison Ferber Miller, asked a federal court in Washington, D.C., on Thursday to delay the trial until the military commission has determined his mental capacity. A defence psychiatrist who examined him in August concluded that he is 'not competent', according to Miller. The psychiatrist diagnosed a traumatic brain injury, severe neurocognitive disorder, complex post-traumatic stress disorder and major depression, and concluded that Nashiri 'cannot understand the proceedings or assist his counsel'.

Miller attributes these conditions to torture in CIA custody. Declassified documents released in 2018 described how Nashiri was stripped naked, repeatedly slammed against walls and left 'moaning, shaking and asking God to help him repeatedly' during years in clandestine detention facilities. Nashiri underwent waterboarding, beatings and confinement in a crate. Miller is seeking a delay rather than asking the federal judge to rule on competence, requesting instead that the military commission has 'a meaningful opportunity' to do so.

How it is being reported

• Lawyer questions al-Qaida suspect's competence before USS Cole bombing trialA trial is set for the suspected organizer of a deadly al-Qaida attack on a U.S. warship in the year 2000.Clickorlando · 15 Oct, 21:25
• Lawyer questions al-Qaida suspect's competence before USS Cole bombing trialA trial is set for the suspected organizer of a deadly al-Qaida attack on a U.S. warship in the year 2000.News4Jax · 15 Oct, 21:25

In this story: Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri · Allison Ferber Miller · USS Cole · al-Qaida · Yemen · Cuba · CIA

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