US prosecutors seek 2019 trial in 9-11 case at Guantanamo

MIAMI – U.S. prosecutors are seeking a 2019 trial date for five prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention centre accused of planning and aiding the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack.

The five would be tried by a military commission at the U.S. base in Cuba on charges that include terrorism and nearly 3,000 counts of murder in violation of the law of war. They could get the death penalty if convicted by a jury of military officers.

Prosecutors ask in a motion unsealed Wednesday for jury selection to begin in January and predict it would take six to eight weeks to present their case.

The five were arraigned in 2012. The case has bogged down in pretrial motions as lawyers for the men seek classified evidence about their treatment by the CIA.