9/11 suspects may not plead guilty if no death penalty

FIVE MEN accused of planning the September 11th, 2001, attacks have changed their minds about pleading guilty after a military judge suggested it might prevent them from receiving the death penalty.

"Are you saying if we plead guilty we will not be able to be sentenced to death?" Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the attacks, asked a military tribunal at Guantánamo Bay.

Two of the five men have not yet been judged competent to represent themselves, and Mr Mohammed and the two others said they would defer a decision on a guilty plea until all five could act together. Mr Mohammed has expressed a desire to die as a martyr but the presiding judge, Col Stephen Henley, questioned whether a death sentence was permissible without a verdict by a military jury.

The men are charged with conspiracy, murder in violation of the law of war, attacking civilians, attacking civilian objects, intentionally causing serious bodily injury, destruction of property in violation of the law of war, terrorism, and providing material support for terrorism.

Military prosecutors have asked for the death penalty but some of the defendants, including Mr Mohammed, claim they were tortured by CIA interrogators. Civil rights lawyers argue it is unacceptable to accept a guilty plea from someone who has endured torture.

President-elect Barack Obama has promised to close the detention centre at Guantánamo Bay and to abolish the military tribunal system established by the Bush administration.

Mr Obama's advisers have yet to decide, however, what to do with about 250 inmates who remain in Guantánamo.

Some cannot be repatriated to their home countries because they could face torture or death. The Bush administration has approached a number of third countries about accepting some Guantánamo inmates.

Others are likely to go on trial in the US in conventional civilian or military courts, but allegations of torture mean that much evidence could prove inadmissible in the US court system.

Jennifer Daskal, senior counterterrorism counsel at Human Rights Watch, said the judge should hold a full hearing to determine that any pleas are free from coercion and investigate Mr Mohammed's influence over the other defendants.

"In light of the men's severe mistreatment, the judge should require a full and thorough factual inquiry to determine whether or not these pleas are voluntary," she said.