Outbursts, silence by 9-11 defendants delay Guantanamo arraignment

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Fox News:

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, CUBA – The arraignment Saturday of the five defendants in the 9-11 attacks stretched into the evening as the self-proclaimed mastermind and his four co-defendants refused to answer the judge’s questions and interrupted the proceeding with prayers and outbursts – all in an apparent attempt to delay the process.

The appearance of the five men at the military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, marked the first time in more than three years that the public has seen Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the other men.

Mohammed arrived wearing a white turban. His beard is now down to his chest and graying but streaked with red henna.

More than seven hours into the hearing, the judge at the U.S. military base in Cuba hadn't yet read the charges against the men. They face 2,976 counts of murder and other charges related to the 2001 attacks and could receive the death penalty if convicted of the most serious crimes.

All five defendants deferred their pleas until a later date.

The hearing began at about 9 a.m. local time and almost immediately got delayed when the defendants took off their earphones that provide Arabic translations.

The other defendants -- Ramzi Binalshibh, Walid bin Attash, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali and Mustafa al Hawsawi – joined Mohammed in refusing to answer questions from Army Col. James Pohl, the judge presiding over the proceedings.

At one point, two defendants got up and prayed alongside their defense tables under the watchful eyes of troops arrayed along the sides of the high-security courtroom.

Bin Attash was put in a restraint chair for unspecified reasons, then removed from it after he agreed to behave.

Lawyers for all defendants complained that the prisoners were prevented from wearing the civilian clothes of their choice, in a proceeding equally slowed by technical legal questions about defense complaints about the court’s authority and access to evidence and translators.

Brigadier General Mark Martins, the chief prosecutor of the Pentagon's Office of U.S. Military Commissions told Fox News that he “understands the skepticism” about access to evidence, but some still remains classified.

[Draggingtree]

Chaotic Scene at Hearing in 9/11 Case at Guantánamo

 

 

 

By CHARLIE SAVAGE

 

Published: May 5, 2012

 

GUANTÁNAMO BAY, Cuba — Khalid Shaikh Mohammed fingered his long, henna-dyed beard and stared down in silence on Saturday, pointedly ignoring a military commissions judge asking in vain whether the self-described architect of the Sept. 11 attacks understood what was being said and whether he was willing to be represented by his defense lawyers.

 

 

 

Minutes later, Ramzi bin al Shibh, another of the five detainees arraigned on Saturday as accused conspirators in the attacks, stood, knelt and started praying. Later, he shouted at the judge that he should address their complaints about prison conditions, because “Maybe you are not going to see me again. Maybe they are going to kill us and say that we have committed suicide.”

One defendant, Walid Bin Attash, was wheeled into the courtroom in a restraint chair for reasons that were not disclosed.

Amid disruptions both passive and aggressive, the government’s attempt to restart its efforts to prosecute the five defendants in the long-delayed Sept. 11 case got off to a slow and rocky start in a trial that could ultimately result in their execution.

After hours of jostling over procedural issues, all five defendants deferred entering a plea. The judge set a hearing date for motions in mid-June; the trial is not likely to start for at least Read More http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/06/us/9-11-defendants-face-arraignment-in-military-court.html?hp