THE US/CUBA:THE ALLEGED mastermind of the 9/11 terrorist attacks told a US military tribunal yesterday that he would welcome being "martyred" by the death penalty.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the one-time third in the chain of command of al-Qaeda, and four other accused co-conspirators were arraigned on war crimes charges at the detention camp in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. He refused legal representation.
Laughing and murmuring with his fellow defendants, Mohammed defiantly embraced the prospect of capital punishment.
"Yes, that is what I wish," he told the tribunal judge, US marine colonel Ralph Kohlmann. "I am looking to be martyred for a long time."
When the judge inquired about Mohammed's appointed military lawyer, the defendant rose to his feet and sang in Arabic, translating his words for the court. Stroking his bushy grey beard, he said his religion required him to decline a lawyer and represent himself.
"My shield is Allah most high," he said. "God is all-sufficient, understand?"
Mohammed admitted last year to plotting "from A to Z" the hijacking of three passenger aircraft that crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a Pennsylvania field in 2001, according to US military transcripts. But he has since disavowed that confession, claiming translators "put many words in my mouth" and accusing his captors of torture.
Mohammed and co-defendants Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, Ramzi Binalshibh, Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi and Walid bin Attash, are charged with committing terrorism and conspiring with al-Qaeda to murder civilians in the 9/11 attacks. They also face 2,973 counts of murder, one for each person killed.
The other defendants are accused of helping to choose, train and fund the 19 hijackers, assisting their flight school enrolment and travel to the US.
The CIA's acknowledgment that Mohammed was interrogated using waterboarding - a simulated drowning tactic considered tantamount to torture - could complicate the military's case against him. Defence lawyers have vowed to contest any evidence that may have been extracted by violent methods.
After Mohammed spoke, bin Attash also told the tribunal he would embrace the death penalty. "You killed my brother who was younger than me during the war, and this is my wish to be in your hands," he said.
Their lawyers are expected to waive formal reading of the charges and defer entering a plea until they've had more time to prepare. Prosecutors want to start the trial on September 15th, a date the defence says was chosen to influence the US presidential election in November. - (Guardian service)