Trial of Osama bin Laden's son-in-law delayed a week

NEW YORK, Feb. 20 (UPI) -- A federal judge in New York granted a delay in a terror trial so the defense can review possible evidence from purported Sept. 11 planner Khalid Sheik Mohammed.

U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan Wednesday agreed to postpone jury selection in the trial of Sulaiman abu Ghaith, Osama bin Laden's son-in-law, from next Monday to March 3, the Los Angeles Times reported. Defense lawyers asked for a 45-day delay.

Last week, Mohammed, awaiting a military trial at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, agreed to review and answer questions about Abu Ghaith. Ghaith's attorneys said they wanted to use testimony from the self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on the United States to demonstrate their client was a low-level member of al-Qaida, not a senior leader as alleged by U.S. officials.

Charges the 48-year-old Abu Ghaith faces include conspiring to kill Americans, providing material support to terrorists and threatening more plane attacks after Sept. 11, 2001.

Separately, Kaplan ruled federal prosecutors won't be allowed to review any statements given by Mohammed to Abu Ghaith's attorneys.

The order stipulated that Mohammed cannot be asked about the time he was held in a secret CIA "black site," details about his imprisonment at Guantanamo or the status of other terrorism suspects detained in the military prison in Cuba.

Bin Laden was killed in 2011 in a U.S. special forces raid on his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.