The U.S. military court at Guantanamo ruled that one of the accused masterminds of the September 11 attacks could not be tried.
Yemeni Ramzi bin al-Shib, 51, was scheduled to appear at a trial facing the death penalty along with four other defendants.
However, a military judge, Col. Matthew McCall, concluded that the psychological effects of Yemen prevented him from defending himself, Ronald Fleswick, a spokesman for the Guantanamo military commission, confirmed to The Associated Press (AP).
The decision meant Ramzi bin al-Shib would not be tried alongside his other co-defendants and the case would continue without Yemen.
Doctors at the North American base of Guantanamo, located on the island of Cuba, diagnosed Ramzi bin al-Shib with post-traumatic stress disorder and psychotic features, as well as delusional disorder.
The New York Times previously reported that military psychiatrists said his condition made him unable to understand the nature of the case against him or to cooperate intelligently with his defense team.
The newspaper added that Ramzi bin al-Shib had been “harassed by unseen forces for years, moving his bed and cell, stabbing his genitals and causing him to lose sleep”.
His lawyer, David Brooke, alleged that his client was tortured by the CIA and driven insane as a result of what the agency called “enhanced interrogation techniques” that included sleep deprivation, waterboarding and assaults.
Yemen is scheduled to participate in pre-trial proceedings today along with Khaled Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the September 11 attacks, and three other defendants who have been held at Guantanamo for more than fifteen years and have yet to be tried. The responsibility for making it rests with the military court.
Al-Shib is accused of organizing a group of 19 hijackers who carried out attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.
Brooke is expected to remain in custody if al-Ship is found incompetent to stand trial.