TEHRAN, August 19 (MNA) – A United States military judge has ruled that an Al-Qaeda bombing suspect's confession cannot be used as evidence because it was derived from torture, potentially setting a new hurdle for September 11 prosecutions.The judge in the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba US military tribunals said that a confession by Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, the alleged mastermind of the 2000 attack against the USS Cole in Yemen which left 17 dead, was tainted by years of abuse at the hands of the CIA and FBI, a report by the AFP said on Saturday.

"Exclusion of such evidence is not without societal costs," wrote the judge, Colonel Lanny Acosta.

"However, permitting the admission of evidence obtained by or derived from torture by the same government that seeks to prosecute and execute the accused may have even greater societal costs," the military judge added.

Al-Nashiri's attorney Anthony Natale said the judge threw out key evidence military prosecutors hoped to use to convict his client.

MNA/PR