Editing Ramzi bin al-Shibh

{{Short description|Yemenite terrorist}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Ramzi bin al-Shibh
| image              = Ramzi Binalshibh (cropped).jpg
| image_size         = 
| caption            = FBI photo of bin al-Shibh
| native_name        = {{Lang|ar|رمزي بن الشيبة}}
| native_name_lang   = ar
| birth_name         = Ramzi Mohammed Abdullah bin al-Shibh
| birth_date         = {{Birth date and age|1972|05|01}}<ref>{{Cite web| title=Combatant Status Review Tribunal Input and Recommendation for Continued Detention Under DoD Control (CD) for Guantanamo Detainee, ISN: US9YM-010013DP (S) | url=https://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/82930-isn-10013-ramzi-bin-al-shibh-jtf-gtmo-detainee/f16f6d8677fedb00/full.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220120144717/https://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/82930-isn-10013-ramzi-bin-al-shibh-jtf-gtmo-detainee/f16f6d8677fedb00/full.pdf | archive-date=2022-01-20}}</ref>
| birth_place        = [[Ghayl Bawazir]], [[Yemen]]
| nationality        = [[Yemenis|Yemeni]]
| other_names        = Abu Ubaidah
| siglum             = 
| citizenship        = <!-- use only when necessary per [[WP:INFONAT]] -->
| criminal_charges   = Charged before a military commission in 2008; trial started in October 2012
| criminal_status    = At the [[Guantanamo Bay detention camp|NSGB]] since 2002
| module             = 
 {{Infobox military person|embed=yes
| allegiance   = {{Flag|Al-Qaeda}}
| serviceyears = 1990s–2002
| rank         = Communication officer
{{tree list}}
*[[War in Afghanistan (1978–present)|Afghan Civil War]]
**[[War in North-West Pakistan]]
{{tree list/end}}
 }}
}}

'''Ramzi Mohammed Abdullah bin al-Shibh''' ({{langx|ar|رمزي محمد عبد الله بن الشيبة|Ramzī Muḥammad ʻAbd Allāh bin al-Shībh}}; born May 1, 1972) is a [[Yemenis|Yemeni]]  [[Terrorism|terrorist]] who served as [[al-Qaeda]]'s communications officer. He has been detained by the [[United States]] in the [[Guantanamo Bay detention camp]] (NSGB) since 2002. He is accused of being a "key facilitator" for the [[September 11 attacks]] in 2001.<ref name="odni14">{{cite web| url=http://www.odni.gov/announcements/content/DetaineeBiographies.pdf| title=Detainee Biographies| publisher=[[Office of the Director of National Intelligence]]| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090901110613/http://www.odni.gov/announcements/content/DetaineeBiographies.pdf| archive-date=September 1, 2009| url-status=dead
| access-date=March 4, 2017}}</ref>

In the mid-1990s, bin al-Shibh moved as a student to [[Hamburg]], [[Germany]], where he allegedly became close friends with [[Mohamed Atta]], [[Ziad Jarrah]] and [[Marwan al-Shehhi]]. Together, they are suspected of forming the [[Hamburg cell]] and becoming central perpetrators of the September 11 attacks. He was the only one of the four who failed to obtain a [[U.S. visa]]; he is accused of acting as an intermediary for the hijackers in the United States, by wiring money and passing on information from key [[al-Qaeda]] figures. After the attacks, bin al-Shibh was the first to be publicly identified by the U.S. as the "[[20th hijacker]]", for whom there have been several more possible candidates.

Bin al-Shibh has been in United States custody since he was captured on September 11, 2002, in [[Karachi, Pakistan]].<ref>. He was captured after a gun battle in Karachi with the Pakistani ISI and the CIA's Special Activities Division a year after the attacks.</ref> He was held by the CIA in [[black site]]s in [[Morocco]] before being transferred to [[Guantanamo Bay]] in September 2006. Finally charged in 2008 before a military commission, he and several others suspected in the 9/11 attacks went to trial beginning in May 2012. In August 2023 a U.S. military judge ruled him too psychologically damaged to defend himself after CIA torture.<ref name="Board">{{cite web| first=Carol| last=Rosenberg |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/25/us/politics/september-11-guantanamo-shibh.html|title=Man Accused in 9/11 Plot Is Not Fit to Face Trial, Board Says |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=August 25, 2023|access-date=August 25, 2023}}</ref>

==Early life==
Ramzi bin al-Shibh was born on May 1, 1972 in [[Ghayl Ba Wazir]], [[Hadhramaut]], [[South Yemen]].<ref name="odni14"/><ref name="indictment2">[http://www.usdoj.gov/ag/moussaouiindictment.htm Indictment of Zacarias Moussaoui], with supporting conspirators, Ramzi bin al-Shibh and Mustafa al-Hawsawi. Filed in the [[United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia]].</ref><ref name="mcdermott-p39">{{cite book |title=Perfect Soldiers |author=McDermott, Terry |publisher=Harper |year=2005 |pages=39}}</ref><ref
name="chapter5">{{cite web |url=http://www.9-11commission.gov/report/911Report_Ch5.htm |title=9/11 Commission Report, Chapter 5 |publisher=National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States |year=2004}}</ref> When he was young, his family moved to a [[working class|working-class]] neighborhood in the capital, [[Sana'a]].<ref name="mcdermott-p41">{{cite book |title=Perfect Soldiers |author=McDermott, Terry |publisher=Harper |year=2005 |pages=41}}</ref> In 1987, his father died. He was cared for by his older brother, Ahmed, and his mother.<ref name="mcdermott-p41"/>

In 1987, while still in high school, bin al-Shibh began working part-time as a clerk for the International Bank of Yemen.<ref name="mcdermott-p42">{{cite book |title=Perfect Soldiers |author=McDermott, Terry |publisher=Harper |year=2005 |pages=42}}</ref> He continued working there until 1995.<ref name="chapter5"/>

Bin al-Shibh applied for a U.S. [[Visa (document)|visa]] in 1995, but his request was denied.<ref name="chapter5"/> He instead went to [[Germany]], where he requested [[political asylum]], claiming that he was a political refugee from [[Sudan]]. He lived in [[Hamburg]] until 1997, when a judge refused his asylum request.<ref name="chapter5"/>

Bin al-Shibh returned to the [[Hadramaut]] region of Yemen. A short while later he received a German [[visa (document)|visa]] under his real name.<ref name="chapter5"/> While he was in Germany, bin al-Shibh used the name '''Ramzi Omar'''. In 1997, bin al-Shibh met [[Mohamed Atta]] at a [[mosque]]; he was the leader of the [[Hamburg cell]].<ref name="bbc">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/2257456.stm |title=Ramzi Binalshibh: al-Qaeda suspect |publisher=BBC |date=September 14, 2002}}</ref> For two years, Atta and bin al-Shibh were roommates in Germany.<ref name="bbc"/>

==Connections to 9/11 attacks==
In late 1999, bin al-Shibh traveled to [[Kandahar]] in [[Afghanistan]], where he received training at [[al-Qaeda]] camps and met others involved in planning the [[September 11 attacks]].<ref name="bbc"/>

Original plans for the 9/11 attacks called for bin al-Shibh to be one of the hijacker pilots, along with three other members of the [[Hamburg cell]], including [[Mohamed Atta]], [[Marwan al-Shehhi]], and [[Ziad Jarrah]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Perfect Soldiers |url=https://archive.org/details/perfectsoldiersh00mcde |url-access=registration |author=McDermott, Terry |publisher=Harper |year=2005|isbn=9780060584702 }}</ref> From Hamburg, bin al-Shibh applied to take flight training in the United States. At that time, he also applied to Aviation Language Services, which provides language training for student pilots.<ref name="moussaoui-march7">[http://cryptome.org/usa-v-zm-030706-02.htm ''Zacarias Moussauoi v. the United States''], trial testimony on March 7, 2006.</ref> Bin al-Shibh applied four times for an entry visa to the United States and was refused each time. He made visa applications in Germany on May 17, 2000, and again in June, on September 16, and October 25, 2000.<ref name="indictment2"/><ref name="moussaoui-march7"/>

According to the [[9/11 Commission]], this refusal of a visa was motivated by general concern by U.S. officials at the time that people from Yemen, which was struggling economically, would illegally overstay their visit and seek work in the United States. His friend, [[Zakariyah Essabar]], was also denied visas. After failing to gain a visa to enter the United States, bin al-Shibh took on a "coordinator" role in the plot, serving as a link between Atta in the United States and [[Khalid Sheikh Mohammed]] in [[Afghanistan]].<ref name="lateline">{{cite news |url=http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/stories/s689774.htm |title=Al-Jazeera reporter speaks on terrorist plans |date=September 30, 2002 |publisher=Lateline / ABC (Australia) |access-date=March 25, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071112034542/http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/stories/s689774.htm |archive-date=November 12, 2007 |url-status=dead  }}</ref><ref name="cbs-20030305">{{cite news |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-mastermind/ |title=The Mastermind|first=Mary-Jayne|last=McKay|date=March 5, 2003 |publisher=CBS News |access-date=March 25, 2007 |archive-date=October 20, 2002 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021020210145/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/10/09/60II/main524947.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref> Bin al-Shibh was the first to be publicly identified by the United States as the "[[20th hijacker]]," someone who was thought to have been tasked to fill out the single missing slot among the four terrorist five-person teams. This spot was never filled. [[United Airlines Flight 93]] had four hijackers, not five, which is believed in part to have led to the success of the passenger revolt ⁠ ⁠—  the crash of the plane near [[Shanksville]], [[Pennsylvania]] was likely caused by the passengers.

Al-Shibh interacted extensively with the hijackers. In August 2000, [[Ziad Jarrah]] tried to enroll bin al-Shibh in a [[Florida]] flight school.<ref name="indictment2"/> Bin al-Shibh sent money via [[wire transfer]] on September 25, 2000, to [[Marwan al-Shehhi]] in Florida.<ref name="indictment2"/> In August 2001, bin al-Shibh sent approximately $14,000 to [[Zacarias Moussaoui]], using the alias ''Ahad Sabet'',<ref>{{cite news |url=http://archives.cnn.com/2002/LAW/08/07/inv.moussaoui.stolen.id/index.html |title=Motion: 9/11 conspiracy suspect may have used ID of Arizona doctor|first=Phil|last=Hirschkorn|date=August 7, 2002 |publisher=CNN |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071111124454/http://archives.cnn.com/2002/LAW/08/07/inv.moussaoui.stolen.id/index.html |archive-date=November 11, 2007  }}</ref> a few days after receiving transfer of $15,000 from [[Mustafa al-Hawsawi|Hashim Abdulrahman]] in the [[United Arab Emirates]].<ref name="indictment2"/>

According to the [[Al Jazeera Arabic|Al Jazeera]] reporter [[Yosri Fouda]]'s documentary, ''Top Secret: The Road to September 11'', three weeks prior to the attacks, [[Saeed al-Ghamdi]] is believed to have used the name "Abdul Rahman" to message bin al-Shibh online (who was posing as a girlfriend), writing a reference to two military/governmental targets and two civilian targets, 19 hijackers and 4 hijacked planes:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archives.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/meast/09/12/alqaeda.911.claim/index.html|title=Al-Jazeera offers accounts of 9/11 planning|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20060220124318/http://archives.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/meast/09/12/alqaeda.911.claim/index.html |archive-date= 2006-02-20|work= [[CNN]]|date=September 12, 2012}}</ref>

<blockquote>The first semester commences in three weeks. Two high schools and two universities. ... This summer will surely be hot ...19 certificates for private education and four exams. Regards to the professor. Goodbye.</blockquote>

Bin al-Shibh later said that [[Mohamed Atta]] had phoned him on the morning of August 29 to give a similar coded message revealing the date of the attacks.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0209/14/smn.09.html|title=CNN.com - Transcripts|website=transcripts.cnn.com}}</ref>

==Other terrorism activities==
Bin al-Shibh is suspected of having been involved in the 2000 [[USS Cole bombing|USS ''Cole'' bombing]], and the 2002 [[Ghriba synagogue bombing]] in [[Tunisia]].<ref name="bbc" />

After January 14, 2002, bin al-Shibh was featured among five suspected al-Qaeda members on videos delivering what [[United States Attorney General]] [[John Ashcroft]] described as "[[martyrdom]] messages from [[suicide terrorism|suicide terrorists]]."<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.justice.gov/archive/ag/speeches/2002/agcrisisremarks011702.htm|title=Attorney General Ashcroft Transcript News Conference with FBI Director Mueller Regarding Terrorist Tapes|date=January 17, 2002|website=www.justice.gov|access-date=January 5, 2020|quote=They depict, the videotapes depict young men delivering what appear to be martyrdom messages from suicide terrorists.}}</ref> [[NBC News]] said that the five videos had been recorded after the September 11 attacks.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna15082633|title=Video showing Atta, bin Laden is unearthed|first=Jim |last=Popkin |date=October 2, 2006|publisher=NBC News|language=en-US|access-date=January 5, 2020}}</ref> Ashcroft said the five videotapes, shown by the FBI without sound, had been recovered from the rubble of the home of [[Mohammad Atef]] outside [[Kabul, Afghanistan]]. Ashcroft called upon people worldwide to help "identify, locate and incapacitate terrorists who are suspected of planning additional attacks against innocent civilians." The sound was left out to guard against the possibility that the messages contained signals for other terrorists. Ashcroft added that an analysis of the audio suggested "the men may be trained and prepared to commit future suicide terrorist acts." Ashcroft said not much was known about any of them except bin al-Shibh.<ref name=":0" /> The other three are still featured in compiled video clips, in order of appearance, [[Muhammad Sa'id Ali Hasan]], [[Abdul Rahim Jenko|Abd al-Rahim]], and [[Khalid Ibn Muhammad al-Juhani]].<ref>[https://www.fbi.gov/mpg/persons.mpg FBI Seeking Information - War on Terrorism, Martyrdom Messages/video Seeking Information Alert] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090805160829/https://www.fbi.gov/mpg/persons.mpg |date=August 5, 2009}}, VIDEO 2 minutes 11 seconds, mpg (29.1 mb)</ref><ref>[http://mfile.akamai.com/6066/rm/www.fbi.gov/mpg/persons.rm FBI Seeking Information - War on Terrorism, Martyrdom Messages/video Seeking Information Alert], VIDEO 2 minutes 11 seconds, rm (229 kb - stream)</ref><ref>[https://www.fbi.gov/mpg/persons_asf.asf FBI Seeking Information - War on Terrorism, Martyrdom Messages/video Seeking Information Alert] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090805160917/https://www.fbi.gov/mpg/persons_asf.asf |date=August 5, 2009}}, VIDEO 2 minutes 11 seconds, asf (371 kb - stream)</ref> The fifth was identified a week later as Abderraouf Jdey, alias Al-Rauf bin al-Habib bin Yousef al-Jiddi.

On January 17, 2002, the [[FBI]] published the first Most Wanted Terrorists Seeking Information list (now known as the [[FBI Seeking Information – Terrorism list]]). They identified the five wanted terrorists, about whom little was known but who were suspected of plotting additional terrorist attacks in martyrdom operations.<ref>[https://www.fbi.gov/mostwant/seekinfo/seek.htm Most Wanted Terrorists Seeking Information] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060314213748/https://www.fbi.gov/mostwant/seekinfo/seek.htm |date=March 14, 2006 }}, January 17, 2002,</ref> (see current version displaying photos of five terrorists on the remaining martyrdom videos FBI list, as of June 2006)<ref>[https://www.fbi.gov/terrorinfo/terseekinfomartyr.htm Martyrdom Messages/video, Seeking Information Alert] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090805042335/https://www.fbi.gov/terrorinfo/terseekinfomartyr.htm |date=August 5, 2009 }} video clips published by the FBI January 17, 2002, and photos of remaining 5 terrorists, FBI archival after September 2002</ref> Ramzi bin al-Shibh was one of the four men among the five whose names were known.

On September 8, 2006, al-Qaeda released a video that shows Osama bin Laden and some of the 9/11 hijackers. The tape identifies bin al-Shibh as the "coordinator of the 9/11 attacks" in its [[English language|English]] subtitles.<ref name="NYDailyNews">{{cite news |date=September 8, 2006 |title=Video shows Osama and killers |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/450616p-379142c.html |newspaper=New York Daily News}} {{dead link|date=June 2016|fix-attempted=yes|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> The video shows bin al-Shibh and other hijackers training in [[kickboxing]], as well as disarming and concealing weapons at a [[terrorist training camp]] in or near [[Kandahar, Afghanistan]].<ref name="NYDailyNews" /><ref>{{cite news |date=September 8, 2006 |title=Al-Qa'ida releases film showing Bin Laden with the hijackers |url=http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=705570 |work=Belfast Telegraph}} {{dead link|date=March 2017|fix-attempted=yes}}</ref>

==Capture and detention==
{{wikisource|CSRT Summary of Evidence memo for Ramzi Binalshibh}}

Bin al-Shibh was captured in Pakistan on September 11, 2002, after a gun battle in [[Karachi]] with the Pakistani [[Inter-Services Intelligence|ISI]] and the [[CIA]]'s [[Special Activities Division]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/17/AR2007121702151.html|title=FBI, CIA Debate Significance of Terror Suspect|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]}}</ref>{{Failed verification|date=October 2024}} On September 14, 2002, he was transferred to the United States. CIA officers transported him by [[extraordinary rendition]] to a secret [[black site]] in [[Morocco]] for [[interrogation]]. The CIA admitted in August 2010 that it has video tapes of these interrogations.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/cia-tapes-prove-morocco-rendition/story-e6frg6so-1225907071320 |title=CIA tapes prove Morocco rendition |date=August 19, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/clara-gutteridge/new-cia-interrogation-tap_b_686897.html |work=Huffington Post |first=Clara |last=Gutteridge |title=New CIA Interrogation Tapes Hint at Legal 'Loophole' Allowing the US to Outsource Torture |date=October 18, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/south/09/16/alqaeda.pakistan/ |title=Binalshibh to go to third country for questioning |publisher=CNN |date=September 17, 2002}}</ref>

His profile was removed from the FBI Seeking Information wanted list by October 17, 2002.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20021017112003/http://www.fbi.gov/terrorinfo/terseekinfo.htm FBI Seeking Information archive], Internet Archive Wayback Machine, October 17, 2002</ref> Bin al-Shibh was held by the U.S. at an undisclosed CIA-led location until September 2006. On September 6, 2006, [[U.S. President]] [[George W. Bush]] announced that bin al-Shibh and thirteen other CIA-held, [[high-value detainees]] had been transferred to [[Guantanamo Bay detention camp]].

Bin al-Shibh is also wanted by German courts; he had shared a [[Hamburg]] apartment with [[Mohamed Atta]], the suspected ringleader of the [[September 11 attacks|September 11]] hijackers. In 2005, the USA denied a German request for bin al-Shibh's [[extradition]]. In an earlier extradition and trial, [[Abdelghani Mzoudi]], a 9/11 suspect, was acquitted of German charges.{{citation needed|date=June 2023}}

On June 12, 2008, the [[United States Supreme Court]] ruled, in ''[[Boumediene v. Bush]]'' (2008), that detainees had the right to access the federal court system in ''[[habeas]]'' challenges to their detention. It ruled that the [[Military Commissions Act of 2006]], which had restricted their exercise of habeas corpus outside the military commission system, was unconstitutional in this respect. The first 22 captives who had pending [[habeas corpus|habeas]] petitions in 2006 when the Act was passed, were allowed to re-initiate their petitions in August 2008.<ref name=HabeasAmendedandOtherFactualReturnsFiledAugust2008>
{{cite news
| url=http://www.scotusblog.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/table-on-returns-8-29-08.pdf
| title=Amended and Other Factual Returns Filed -- August 2008
| publisher=[[United States Department of Justice]]
| date=August 29, 2008
| access-date=September 11, 2008
}}</ref>

===Guantanamo military commission===
Bin al-Shibh and four other captives classified as [[high value detainees]] ([[Khalid Sheikh Mohammed]], [[Mustafa al-Hawsawi]], [[Ammar al-Baluchi]] and [[Walid Bin Attash]]) were charged in [[Guantanamo military commission]]s in Spring 2008. The men triggered controversy when they announced that they did not want US-appointed attorneys and they planned to boycott their commissions.{{citation needed|date=September 2024}} The military commissions, as authorized by President [[George W. Bush]], did not permit suspects to forgo legal representation, to act as their own attorneys, or to boycott their commissions.{{citation needed|date=September 2024}} The commissions authorized by the [[Military Commissions Act of 2006]], did authorize suspects to serve as their own attorneys.{{citation needed|date=September 2024}}

The other four men eventually agreed to attend their commissions. Bin al-Shibh, however, has continued to refuse to attend. His appointed attorneys had expressed concern about him and his state of mental health. The top-secret location of [[camp 7 (Guantanamo)|Camp 7]], where the high-value detainees are held, had been off limits to military attorneys. The individual detainees are hooded when they travel from the camp to their commission hearings.

Suzanne Lachelier, one of the attorneys and a reserve officer in the [[Judge Advocate General Corps]], offered to wear a hood, in order to be taken to him when the camp authorities initially refused her examination of the prison. She finally gained approval from the military commission judge to see the prison in the autumn of 2008. To get to the prison, Lachelier and her co-counsel, Rich Federico, were taken in a windowless van that was used to transport detainees.  They were the first defense lawyers to visit Camp 7.

The judge presiding over the commission's pre-trial motions ordered bin al-Shibh and Mustafa al-Hawsawi to undergo [[competency evaluation (law)|mental competency hearings]]. On December 8, 2008, [[Khalid Sheikh Mohammed]] told the judge that he, along with the other four men who had been indicted, wished to confess and plead guilty; however, they wished to delay their plea until after the competency hearings of bin al-Shibh and Hawsawi, because all five men wanted to make their pleas together.<ref>{{cite news |title=Top 9/11 suspects to plead guilty |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7770856.stm |work=[[BBC News]] |date=December 8, 2008 |access-date=December 8, 2008}}</ref>

On May 17, 2010, ''Saba News'' reported that Bin al-Shibh and four other Yemenis would face charges in the summer of 2010.<ref name=SabaNews-2010-05-17>
{{cite news |url=http://www.sabanews.net/en/news214477.htm |title=U.S. to try five Yemeni Gitmo detainees |publisher=[[Saba News]] |date=May 17, 2010 |access-date=May 17, 2010 |quote=The U.S. will start in this summer trying five Yemeni detainees at the U.S. Guantanamo Bay in Cuba including Ramzi Al-Shaibah, Walid Bin Atash and Abdul Rahim Al-Nasheri, the September 26 website has reported. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100518181034/http://www.sabanews.net/en/news214477.htm |archive-date=May 18, 2010}}</ref> Two other Yemenis to face charges were: [[Walid Bin Atash]] and [[Abdul Rahim Al-Nasheri]]. ''Saba News'' did not name the fourth and fifth individuals.

In 2011, the lawyers of Bin al-Shibh argued that he may be unfit to stand trial and participate in his own defense. They have asked that the proceedings against him and his four co-accused be stayed until his mental state is determined. They say he has been prescribed [[psychotropic]] drugs of the sort that are used to treat [[schizophrenia]]. Bin al-Shibh claims that he is mentally fit, has denounced his lawyers, and says that he wants to represent himself before the commissions.<ref>[https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20120804060130/http://www.hrw.org/news/2011/05/31/ramzi%2Dbin%2Dal%2Dshibh "Ramzi bin al-Shibh"], Human Rights Watch, May 31, 2011</ref>

In October 2012, the U.S. began the trials of al-Shibh and the other four 9/11 defendants. On January 31, 2014, [[Carol Rosenberg]], reporting in the ''[[Miami Herald]]'', wrote that Pohl had to delay al-Shibh's trial again, because the panel of three military psychiatrists who tried to determine whether he was mentally competent to stand trial had not been able to reach a conclusion.<ref name=MiamiHerald2014-01-31>{{cite news |url=http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/01/31/3905404/alleged-911-conspirator-stymies.html |title=Alleged 9/11 conspirator stymies mental-health board |newspaper=[[Miami Herald]] |author=Carol Rosenberg| date=January 31, 2014| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140201183021/http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/01/31/3905404/alleged-911-conspirator-stymies.html| archive-date=February 1, 2014
| url-status=live | quote=A military mental health board has told the 9/11 trial judge that it couldn't evaluate the competency of an accused Sept. 11 plotter, two defense lawyers said Friday, casting doubt on resumption of hearings next month at Guantánamo.|author-link=Carol Rosenberg}}</ref> Al-Shibh had not been prepared to answer the doctor's questions. On August 24, 2023, Al-Shibh was declared unfit to stand trial by a U.S. tribunal due to his mental state, after lawyers argued 'CIA torture made him delusional and psychotic'.<ref name="Board"/>

==See also==
*[[Shaker Aamer]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
{{commons category-inline}}
* {{cite news | url  = https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna23108871
| title       = Pentagon charges 6 in 9-11 attacks: Death penalty will be sought against alleged mastermind, others
| publisher   = [[NBC News]]
| date        = February 11, 2008
| access-date = February 1, 2014
| quote       = Ramzi Binalshibh, said to have been the main intermediary between the hijackers and leaders of al-Qaida 
}}
* {{cite news | url         = http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23120362
| title       = 'Clean team' interrogated 9-11 suspects: Agency tried non-coercive techniques to protect case against six detainees
| publisher   = [[MSNBC]]
|author1=Josh White 
|author2=Dan Eggen 
|author3=Joby Warrick 
| date        = February 11, 2008
| archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20080213220833/http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23120362
| archive-date = February 13, 2008
| access-date  = February 1, 2014
| url-status     = dead
| quote       = FBI and military interrogators who began work with the suspects in late 2006 called themselves the "Clean Team," and set as their goal collecting of virtually the same information the CIA had obtained from five of the six through duress at secret prisons. 
}}
*{{cite news| last = Shane
| first = Scott
| date = June 22, 2008
| url = https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/22/washington/22ksm.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
| title = Inside a 9/11 Mastermind's Interrogation
| work = [[New York Times]]
| access-date = June 23, 2008
| archive-date = December 20, 2013
| archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20131220093709/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/22/washington/22ksm.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
| url-status = live
}}

{{HighValue}}
{{9-11 hijackers}}
{{3IC}}
{{GermanTerrorism}}
{{CIAPrisons}}
{{WoTPrisoners}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shibh, Ramzi bin al-}}
[[Category:1972 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Yemeni al-Qaeda members]]
[[Category:Detainees of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp]]
[[Category:People associated with the September 11 attacks]]
[[Category:People declared mentally unfit for court]]
[[Category:People subject to extraordinary rendition by the United States]]
[[Category:Yemeni expatriates in Pakistan]]
[[Category:Hamburg cell]]
[[Category:People from Hadhramaut Governorate]]