Lawyers Want 9/11 Trial Dismissed

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Defense lawyers accused the government of rushing the September 11, 2001, defendants to trial at Guantanamo to influence the American presidential elections, and asked the military judge to dismiss the case in a court filing obtained yesterday by the Associated Press.

Military lawyers for the alleged September 11 mastermind, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and four co-defendants disclosed that prosecutors are seeking a September 15 trial date — weeks before the November 4 election.

The filing also shows that the former chief prosecutor at Guantanamo, Colonel Morris Davis of the Air Force, who resigned in October over alleged political interference, was sanctioned by the military on May 23 after testifying for the defense in a Guantanamo hearing.