A military judge put a Guantanamo prisoner charged in the Sept. 11 attacks back on the same trial schedule as his four co-defendants Wednesday after hearing arguments about issues that have bogged down the case for months, according to Reuters.
Army Col. James Pohl granted a government motion to reconsider his July 24 order severing the case of Ramzi Binalshibh of Yemen from those of the other defendants, Reuters reported.
Pohl said he might reinstate the severance order if issues pertinent only to Binalshibh continue to hold up the larger case into next year, according to Reuters.
Those issues include Binalshibh's desire to have officials look into what he says is a pattern of mistreatment at the hands of guards inside Camp 7, the secret section of the prison where he is held, Reuters reported.
He has alleged that he has been subjected to sounds and vibrations intended to prevent him from sleeping, allegations the military has denied, according to Reuters.
Binalshibh was subjected to sleep deprivation while in CIA custody before being taken to Guantanamo, Reuters reported.
Defense attorney James Harrington said the alleged harassment was behind Binalshibh's past disruptive behavior in court, according to Reuters.
The defendant, accused of organizing the Hamburg, Germany, cell of the Sept. 11 hijackers, has had outbursts that prompted the judge to have him ejected from a September 2013 hearing, Reuters reported.
He sat quietly and shuffled papers during Wednesday's hearing, wearing a white robe and Arab headdress, according to Reuters.
Other issues involving Binalshibh include his mental capacity to stand trial and a potential conflict of interest that has arisen over FBI questioning of members of his defense team, Reuters reported.
Harrington said severing Binalshibh's case would allow the larger case to proceed more quickly, hastening closure for families of the 2,976 people killed in the Sept. 11, 2011, attacks, according to Reuters.
Wednesday's hearing at the U.S. base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was shown on closed-circuit video at Fort Meade, Maryland, near Baltimore, and pretrial proceedings resume Thursday for all five defendants, Reuters reported.
