Judge Suspends Sept. 11 Proceedings Over Charges Of Eavesdropping

FT. MEADE, Md. — The military judge in the Sept. 11 conspiracy case abruptly granted a defense request to halt the proceedings until Tuesday after lawyers for the five men accused in the plot raised fresh complaints that government intelligence officials were spying on their confidential attorney-client discussions.

The judge, Army Col. James L. Pohl, also ordered three top prison officials at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba to testify Tuesday before he rules whether the military trial, the only criminal case to arise out of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, should go forward.

The defense lawyers said government intelligence officials, known to them only as the "original classification authorities," have eavesdropped through microphones at defense counsel tables and planted microphones in smoke detectors in holding cells where lawyers confer with their clients. They also say prison guards routinely ask what language they will be speaking when they set up visits with their clients.
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