Terrorist trials could move to New York

NEW YORK, Oct. 13 (UPI) -- Five suspects in the World Trade Center attacks likely would be moved to New York if federal indictments are brought against them, authorities said.

The suspects, including Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the attacks, have been held at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp since their arrest.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates are to decide by mid-November whether to scrap military trials that have been mired in legal issues in favor of federal trials, an Obama administration official told The New York Daily News Tuesday. The story did not identify the official.

Civilian prosecutors likely would seek the death penalty because military prosecutors sought that punishment, the official told the News.

The federal trials likely would be held in the Southern District Court of New York, just blocks from the trade center reconstruction project, the site of the worst devastation caused in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, authorities said.