By Joseph Ax
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Jurors deciding the fate of a son-in-law of Osama bin Laden will not hear testimony from the accused mastermind of the September 11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, a U.S. judge ruled on Tuesday.
Judge Lewis Kaplan rejected as "entirely baseless" a motion by defence lawyers to admit the testimony in the trial of Suleiman Abu Ghaith, 48, a former al Qaeda spokesman who is one of the highest profile people to face terrorism-related charges in a civilian court in the United States.
Mohammed, who is being held at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, had said in response to written questions from the defence that Abu Ghaith "was not a military man and had nothing to do with" al Qaeda military operations.
Instead, Mohammed speculated, Abu Ghaith may have been chosen as a spokesman based on his "rhetorical ability."
But Kaplan said Mohammed's 14-page declaration contained no evidence that he had any relevant personal knowledge.
"There is not even evidence in this document that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was in the same country as the defendant during the same time period," Kaplan said.
The U.S. government accuses Abu Ghaith, a Kuwaiti, of acting as a mouthpiece and recruiter for al Qaeda following the September 11, 2001 attacks in which four passengers aircraft were hijacked so they could be flown into buildings. Nearly 3,000 people were killed in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.
Prosecutors accuse Abu Ghaith of being aware of further planned attacks against Americans, including the shoe bomb plot attempted aboard a plane by Briton Richard Reid in late 2001. The government contends Abu Ghaith spent time in Afghanistan with bin Laden after the attacks. Bin Laden, a founder of al Qaeda, was killed in May 2011 by U.S. forces at his hideout in Pakistan.
In February, Kaplan delayed the trial for a week to give defence lawyers a chance to submit hundreds of written questions to Mohammed, but he has repeatedly expressed scepticism that Abu Ghaith would have the right to introduce Mohammed's testimony.
On Tuesday, he shut that door for good, saying that the dispute over Mohammed's testimony was "much ado about nothing."
"Does he address what Suleiman Abu Ghaith knows or doesn't know?" Kaplan said of Mohammed's declaration. "No. He doesn't touch it with a 10-foot pole."
Prosecutors have shown jurors video of Abu Ghaith warning Americans in October 2001 that "the storm of airplanes will not stop."
Abu Ghaith is charged with conspiring to kill Americans, providing material support and resources to terrorists and conspiring to provide such support. He faces life in prison if convicted.
Abu Ghaith's lawyers, who began putting on his defence on Monday, argue that there is no evidence he knew about any specific future attacks.
The case is U.S. v. Abu Ghayth, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 98-cr-01023.
(Reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Grant McCool)
