The Legacy of Torture Has Vexed the Quest for 9/11 Justice for Decades

Secret detention after 9/11

After the Sept. 11 attacks killed thousands and left the World Trade Center in ruins, the Bush administration took secret actions aimed at preventing further attacks. Dozens of suspected terrorists were transferred to undisclosed sites and held for years.

Many were interrogated by C.I.A. officers without lawyers or a right to remain silent, and outside the Geneva Conventions. Captives were kept in solitary confinement and questioned hundreds of times, under conditions that led them to believe silence would bring more torture.

Mohammed’s treatment in custody

The treatment of Mohammed and other captives now shadows the cases brought against them. Military judges have excluded all key confessions in the Guantánamo death penalty cases because the defendants were tortured by the C.I.A.

A long wait for trial

Twenty-five years after the attacks, earlier government decisions continue to shape the pursuit of justice. The cases are being heard in a military court at Guantánamo Bay, far from the United States.

The exclusion of the confessions has added to the difficulty of bringing the Sept. 11 cases to trial. The legacy of torture remains central to the delay and to the court’s handling of the death penalty cases.