The foreign secretary, David Miliband, today opened a rift with the Bush administration by raising doubts about the fairness of US military tribunals for the six men charged in connection with the September 11 attacks.
Miliband said he had "some concerns" not only about impartiality but also about the methods used to extract information from the detainees, who are being held at Guantánamo Bay.
US military prosecutors said yesterday they would seek the death penalty against the six, including the alleged mastermind of the plot, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and the alleged would-be 20th hijacker, Mohammed al-Qahtani, as well as the alleged funders and coordinators of the attacks.
The US homeland security secretary, Michael Chertoff, insisted defendants in the much-criticised military commissions would have "full due process" and "all the fundamental rights".
But Miliband today echoed criticism from human rights groups about whether the six men would get a fair trial.
The CIA last week admitted using "water-boarding" – simulated drowning, which is widely seen as torture – to obtain a confession from Mohammed, the highest profile of the inmates, that he was responsible "from A to Z" for 9/11.
Full story @ http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/feb/12/guantanamo.september112
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