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Defense attorneys says U.S withholding medical info on torture of alleged 9/11 plotters

Posted at 12:16 AM, Oct 13, 2016
and last updated 2016-10-13 00:16:58-04

GUANTANAMO BAY -- Jasmine Norwood is in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba for a week, covering important pretrial hearings for Khalid Shaikh Mohammad and four other Guantanamo Bay detainees who are accused of being masterminds, funding, planning, and supporting the September 11 terror attacks.

Wednesday, four of the five men accused of being involved in the terror attacks that killed thousands, walked into court looking fine, but defense attorneys say their clients are suffering mental and physical ailments that stem from the years they were tortured while in CIA custody.

“Mr. Al Hawsawi to this day suffers from injuries he sustained during those years of degradation and torture, to this day he has to choose between defecating and eating,” said defense attorney Walter Ruiz.

Ruiz represents Mustafa Al Hawsawi, who was not in court Wednesday because Ruiz says he was having physical issues that are a direct result of what happened between 2003 and 2006.

“Mr. Al Hawsawi was tortured in the black sites (secret prison),” said Ruiz.

Some of torture details are in a 525 page report, the senate released in 2014, but in court Wednesday multiple defense teams said the report is missing information.

“The report also chronicles how there was no evidence of medical necessity for these procedures,” he added.

Attorneys for the accused men say the prosecution is withholding detailed information. Some say they are missing medical records all together.

They said the records are needed as evidence in order to build their cases and further investigate what the detainees endured.

Meanwhile, prosecutors call the allegations non-sense and argue they've turned over all medical reports.

Ruiz says, intentional or not, holes remain.

“If you want to question if some people are racist… Well, if he is an accused terrorist and he is accused of committing greatest act of terrorism ever perpetrated on US soil, so what... and to some extent I think that is the government’s attitude by not giving detainees adequate treatment.”