Alleged Sept. 11 planners disrupt arraignment at Guantanamo hearing

Janet Hamlin / AP

In this sketch reviewed by the U.S. Department of Defense, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed reads a document in court on Saturday.

Updated at 10:20 p.m. ET: GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba -- Accused Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his co-defendants defied a military judge Saturday by refusing to answer his questions, and one of them got up and started praying as the long-awaited arraignment of the terror suspects got off to a rocky start in a military courtroom in Guantanamo.

Mohammed -- dressed in a white turban and robe -- sat silently, taking off his headphones when Judge James Pohl first addressed him. "One cannot refuse to participate and frustrate the proceedings," a clearly irritated Pohl snapped.

"The reason he's not putting the earphones in his ears is because of the torture that was done to him," his lawyer, David Nevin, told the judge. 


Ramzi Binalshibh, another alleged 9/11 plotter, at one point disrupted the court by standing up and shouting -- first in Arabic and then in English --  that "the era of Gadhafi is over but it continues at this camp. Maybe you aren't going to see me anymore ... there are threats we have seen at this camp. Maybe they will kill us and say we have committed suicide."

When Pohl ordered him to sit down, saying such issues could be raised later, Binalshibh shot back: "The time to discuss these things is now, not tomorrow."

While families of the 9/11 victims watched in the courtroom, and on closed-circuit television at seven sites in the United States, the  dispute - and other protests by the defendants and their lawyers --  appeared to initially tie up the proceedings  in knots. 

The chaotic hearing ended with the reading of the 87 pages of charges, which took more than two hours. The judge then declared the court in recess until June 12. 

Binalshibh earlier brought the court to a halt when he stood up and then dropped to his knees in prayer.

NBC's Michael Isikoff reports from Guantanamo on the disruptions .

Another defendant, Walid bin Attash, sat in court in restraints -- apparently because of a dispute with guards -- and his lawyer said he couldn't participate because his client was "in pain." The restraints were later removed.

With his long flowing beard, Mohammed was a striking presence in the courtroom. But his refusal to utter a word -- despite repeated entreaties by the judge -- stood in stark contrast to previous court appearances where he has chanted Koranic verses, denounced  the United States, and taken credit for the terror attacks.

AP

At left, a 2003 photo obtained by the Associated Press shows Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged Sept. 11 attacks mastermind, shortly after his capture. At right, a photo downloaded from www.muslm.net purports to show Mohammed in 2009.

When the defendants declined to wear their headsets so they could listen to translations of the judge's questions, Pohl ordered a translator to repeat them out loud in Arabic. And he plowed ahead, asking each of the defendants detailed questions about their knowledge of the lawyers who had been appointed to represent them and whether they accepted them. None of the defendants responded and refused to even look at the judge.

During a break, the defendants could be seen leaning back in their seats, laughing, smiling and chatting among themselves -- apparently pleased with their ability to frustrate the judge.

The lawyers did their part, raising repeated objections. Cheryl Borman, a lawyer for Attash and dressed in a muslim hajib, objected to the attire of women members of the prosecution team, several of whom were dressed in military skirts with their legs showing.

"There are issues of cultural sensitivity here," she said. "I am suggesting the prosecution team make decisions of appropriate dress of their female colleagues so that our clients are not forced to look (at them) for fear of commiting a sin under their faith."

Nevin, Mohammed's lawyer, asked Pohl to force prosecutors to identify the men sitting in the back of the courtroom. "Given what Mr. Mohammed has been through with unknown, shadowy people it will affect his ability to proceed," Nevin said. The men were later ID'd as paralegals and FBI agents.

The tactics appeared designed to highlight objections their lawyers have raised to the fairness of the proceedings before a military commission.

In recent days, defense lawyers have filed motions objecting to rules that allow military guards to inspect the mail they send their clients, a lack of translators, and orders that make anything their clients as "presumptively classified."

The Obama administration had previously sought to try the suspects in federal court in New York City -- a move that stirred up a storm of political opposition. Since then, the case has been moved back to military court here at Guantanamo and some of the family members that gathered here this week said they are anxious to see the suspects brought to justice.

An online article purportedly written by al-Qaida members includes instructions on how to set fires in Montana. NBC's Brian Williams reports.

"I'm from Brooklyn and you know what, you face your, you face your fight," said Eddie Bracken, whose sister Lucy was killed in the World Trade Towers.

He said he wanted to see Mohammed and his co-defendants in the courtroom. "I want to see him eye to eye. That's the man that killed my sister -- him and the other cohorts or whatever you want to call them."

Background on the long, winding road to arraignment
Pentagon releases video of US troops interrogating bin Laden's driver
Honor student pleads guilty in 'Jihad Jane' terror plot
NYT: Role of torture revisited in bin Laden narrative
Bin Laden in hiding: Hatching horrific plots despite crippling attacks on al-Qaida 

It was the first public appearance by the five men in more than three years.

Mohammed, a Pakistani citizen who grew up in Kuwait and attended college in Greensboro, N.C., was joined by four co-defendants:

  • Binalshibh, a Yemeni -- allegedly chosen to be a hijacker but couldn't get a U.S. visa and ended up providing assistance such as finding flight schools;
  • Attash, also from Yemen, allegedly ran an al-Qaida training camp in Afghanistan and researched flight simulators and timetables;
  • Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi, a Saudi accused of helping the hijackers with money, Western clothing, traveler's checks and credit cards;
  • Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, a Pakistani national and nephew of KSM, allegedly provided money to the hijackers. 

Like Mohammed, Binalshibh also earlier told the court he was proud of the attacks in New York, Washington and Shanksville, Pa. 

Defendants before military commissions typically do not enter a plea during arraignment. Lawyers for the men said they were prohibited by secrecy rules from disclosing the intentions of their clients. 

Rachel Maddow points out that while fear and a lack of confidence in the American Justice system has forced terror trials like the upcoming trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to be held at Guantanamo, prosecutors were able to conduct a successful terror conviction in a Brooklyn court without any of the dire consequences warned of by alarmists.

But Jim Harrington, Binalshibh's civilian lawyer, didn't expect any of the defendants to plead guilty, The Associated Press reported.

And attorney James Connell, who represents al-Aziz Ali, told reporters at the base that the arraignment is "only the beginning of a trial that will take years to complete, followed by years of appellate review."

"I can't imagine any scenario where this thing gets wrapped up in six months," he added.

Also in court Saturday were six 9/11 family members who won a lottery to attend the proceedings. Others were watching on closed-circuit video at military bases in New York City and the eastern U.S. 

Cliff and Christina Russell traveled from New York to honor the memory of Cliff's younger brother, Stephen, a firefighter killed responding to the attacks, AP reported.

Cliff Russell said he hopes the tribunal will end with the death penalty for Mohammed and his co-defendants. "I'm not looking forward to ending someone else's life and taking satisfaction in it," he said. "but it's the most disgusting, hateful, awful thing I ever could think of if you think about what was perpetrated." 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Lets just send in a SEAL team 7 into their cells and shoot them at point blank range and forget about a trial. That is what we did to their commander - Osama Bin Laden. What's the difference?

    Reply#318 - Sat May 5, 2012 7:50 PM EDT

    This is America! Let's have a fair trial -- just chain and gag them if they continue to behave like lowlife scum pathetic brats. They don't want to participate? Fine!

    If found guilty, put them in solitary confinement for the rest of their sorry lives..a bullet's too easy for these bastards.

      Reply#319 - Sat May 5, 2012 7:53 PM EDT

      put a 7.62 up his @ss next time he disrupts the court,then its all over nuf said

      • 1 vote
      Reply#320 - Sat May 5, 2012 7:56 PM EDT

      I think the legal system needs to be changed when it comes to defendents from other countries that commit crimes in the US. I mean, here you have these guys who proudly brag that what they did was a "great thing", and are making a mockery of our legal system at the same time. If they were in there own countries I would imagine they would've already been given the death sentence, and that would have been carried out already.

      I read how they complain about their rights! What rights!!! They shouldn't have any and it makes me sick whenever I read or hear about them complaining of being a victim. You know what? Prison isn't a nice place and it's that way on purpose. They think that just because they are muslims = radicals at that, that they should have more rights than anyone else. There's plenty of Americans that have committed horrific crimes and many have been dealt with by means of capital punishment. You give up most of your rights whenever you commit a serious crime, especially since it was them that made the first move and did what they did, which was the worst crime that America has ever had to deal with.

      They make themselves out like they are brave soldiers of the muslim faith. Yet all I hear from them is a bunch of crying. All I can say is that they are damn lucky that I'm not running the show. I would deal with them like they need to be dealt with, and would save the taxpayers a bunch of money at the same time. Do you think that if you went into their country and did what they did, that you would receive mercy or have "rights". I think not.

      None of what I say has to do with religion or race either. I couldn't careless if someone what's to be a muslim or whatever. We are not living in the Biblical times either. We are dealing with the present. Most people know that what they do is wrong when it's wrong, and right when it's right. Ifit's not, then you pay a price for that. These guys need to pay for what they did, and when it's time to face their due, it is themselves that will have to answer for their actions.

      • 1 vote
      Reply#321 - Sat May 5, 2012 8:00 PM EDT

      10 years? Are you frekin kidding? Our judiucial system needs an overhaul!

      Let's see, IF FOUND GUILTY, they will get 3000 life sentences only if they make a deal and tell them they did it.

      Or they will be placed on death row and be allowed to live for another 10 years.

      Please send them to New York and drop them off at ground zero and let the survivors

      of 911 and the NYPD take care of the situation so it will be done right!

      • 1 vote
      Reply#322 - Sat May 5, 2012 8:04 PM EDT

      Give me 10 minutes with these "defendants" and we can end the mess right now. Quick, cheap and easy.

      • 1 vote
      Reply#323 - Sat May 5, 2012 8:11 PM EDT

      To say that the defendants disrupted the proceedings is just plain stupid. They did nothing but sit quietly in their seats. And what do we expect them to do, anyway? They know they will never be freed no matter what the outcome of their 'trial'. Apparently they are comfortable with what they've done and the consequences.

        Reply#324 - Sat May 5, 2012 8:13 PM EDT

        We are winning the war against terrorism, Ja, Ja, ja, we are so politicaly correct against the terrorists that they know it, and they are moking us, we won, guess what, they made us afraid of air travel, destroyed our confidence in working for a living, courtailed our free travel by onerous gas prices, and you still think that our traitor, sorry, I meant our commander in chief would do something to help americans, Hell no, he would rather help the muslim brothers. Raised as a muslim, dispising America, What did you expect, if not a person that would do anything to bring America to its knees. Please vote for our Commander in Chief on the next elections, WE WANT TO BE LIKE THEY ARE, Worthless human beings, with only one mission in life, destroy as many other human beings that do not believe in their insane ideas, Mohamad, great guy, a profet of hate and dispair, well look at their culture achievements, that should tell you something.

        • 1 vote
        Reply#325 - Sat May 5, 2012 8:17 PM EDT

        i say give them a 5 minute trial take them out back put a bullet in there heads and then grind there bodies up and sell it to pig farms across the country.

          Reply#326 - Sat May 5, 2012 8:18 PM EDT

          Just through them into the pigs in their pens. . . . you won't have to grind 'em up the pigs will take care of ALL of 'em ! I say through them in there alive, we'll see how much they'll be praying to their "allah"!

            #326.1 - Sat May 5, 2012 9:09 PM EDT
            Reply

            This is stupid...these men are enemy combatants who committed an act of war against the United States yet they are given a civil trial in court just like a citizen of course at the taxpayers expense. Take the bastards out back and blow their heads off!....case closed.

            Oh, sorry, I forgot that would make the muslims whine and cry.....and this is an election year. Can't have that now can we?

            • 1 vote
            Reply#327 - Sat May 5, 2012 8:22 PM EDT

            Can`t kill these bastards. They will be considered martyrs.Let them rot in prison. Better to be at Gitmo with no frills. No matter what, it still is going to cost the tax payer. But, no sweat, there is always a lot of waste with the federal "gob`ment".

              Reply#328 - Sat May 5, 2012 8:23 PM EDT

              Why do they allow these freaks to wear this phony garb and why don't they shave their heads and beards? Aren't there rules there or not? Making a fool of us all with their theatrics.

                Reply#329 - Sat May 5, 2012 8:35 PM EDT

                In my opinion, if these guys do not want to cooperate with the legal procedures, then lock them back up in Gitmo and let them rot there.

                  Reply#330 - Sat May 5, 2012 8:41 PM EDT

                  Build a "Special Wing" in Illinois and move everyone from Gitmo there.

                  U.S. soil. U.S. Laws. Try them in abstentia if they refuse to participate in their defense or communicate with their court apponted lawyers.

                  Hold them in Contempt of Court if they refuse to follows the laws of the country that has detained them.

                  The United States under the Cheney/Bush administration started the mess that is now "imprisoning" combatants in a war that was never declared and therefore the Geneva Convention does NOT apply!

                  How about holding ourselves (the U.S.A.) to the same standard that we try to hold other countries to?

                  Rhetorical question: Why don't Cheney and/or Bush ever travel outside of the continental United States? (are they scard of being arrested for "war crimes"?)

                    Reply#331 - Sat May 5, 2012 8:43 PM EDT

                    Scott, hate to break the news but Bush has been out of the country...he was in Africa not that long ago...I've got a better idea-save tax dollars and just execute them, unless you'd like to pay for their medical care, health care, meals, and incarceration for the next 40 years!

                      #331.1 - Sat May 5, 2012 9:41 PM EDT
                      Reply
                      Comment author avatarJamie Keithleyvia Facebook

                      just kill the idiots and stop wasting precious resources on keeping them alive!!! You think if some Americans were captured in their country for an attack on them that they would be so kind as to give them a fair trial? Well, lets see, an American soldier killed 13 (yeah, way less than the THOUSANDS they killed) pepole in Afghanistan and they took revenge on OTHER American soldiers that had NOTHING to do with that......yet here they sit, in OUR courtrooms, disrespecting the fact that idiot obama wants to give them a fair trial.... it's just completely wrong. Just put a bullet through their pitiful heads and be done!!!

                      • 1 vote
                      Reply#332 - Sat May 5, 2012 8:43 PM EDT

                      This goon should receive the same treatment as any other military combatant being tried for murder. Shave his head and beard, put him in a prison jumpsuit. Remind him that a military trial is a bit different then a civilian trial, and that he can be convicted in absentia without further evidence if he continues to be an a$$. Then take him out to the wall and shoot him. There's no reason he should have any dignity at all at this point in time.

                        Reply#333 - Sat May 5, 2012 8:47 PM EDT

                        Here is some information which shows the lengths the real perpetrators went to to make Americans believe the Arabs were the ones who brought down the WTCs. They would have you believe the passport magically jumped out of the hi jackers wallet and then made from the plane, through the huge explosion, where it was found on the ground by an unknown man in a suit. This was in the 9/11 report. Only a certified idiot would believe this could happen. They also found 2 passports in the Pennsylvania field. Wow, what a coincidence. You have to do your homework. There are many, many more equally ridiculous events regarding 9/11 that do not pass the smell test. It was an inside job. Those hi jackers had help and probably did not know they were being protected so they could do their part.

                        The passport of 9/11 hijacker Satam Al Suqami is reportedly
                        found a few blocks from the World Trade Center. [ABC News, 9/12/2001; Associated Press, 9/16/2001; ABC News, 9/16/2001] Barry Mawn, the director of the
                        FBI’s New York office, will say that police and the FBI find it during a “grid
                        search” of the area. [CNN, 9/18/2001] However a senior counsel to the
                        9/11 Commission will later claim the passport is actually discovered by a
                        passerby and given to a New York City Police Department detective, “shortly
                        before the World Trade Center towers collapsed.” [9/11 Commission, 1/26/2004] According to FBI
                        agent Dan Coleman, Al Suqami’s passport is handed to a New York City detective
                        who is “down there, trying to talk to people as they were coming out of the
                        buildings.” By the time the detective looks up again after receiving the
                        passport, the man who handed it to him has run off, “which doesn’t make sense,”
                        Coleman will say. The passport is then given to a detective on the Joint
                        Terrorism Task Force. Coleman will say that by this evening, “we realized… that
                        this was the passport of one of the people that headquarters had identified as
                        one of the 19 probable hijackers.” [France 5, 3/14/2010] Investigative journalist Nick
                        Davies will later write that he talked to “senior British sources who said they
                        believed that the discovery of a terrorist’s passport in the rubble of the Twin
                        Towers in September 2001 had been ‘a throwdown,’ i.e. it was placed there by
                        somebody official.” [Davies, 2009, pp. 248] The Guardian
                        will comment, “The idea that Mohamed Atta’s passport had escaped from that
                        inferno unsinged [tests] the credulity of the staunchest supporter of the FBI’s
                        crackdown on terrorism.” (Note that, as in this Guardian account, the passport
                        will frequently be mistakenly referred to as belonging to Atta, not Al Suqami.)

                        • 2 votes
                        Reply#335 - Sat May 5, 2012 8:55 PM EDT

                        Kind of reminds me of the Manson trials !!!! Save us all the time, money, and air . . . . put a nice full metal-jacketed 5.56-mm M-16 bullet right into each one. Yea,Yea . . . . they want to go to fu@#!*@ "allah" . . . .well here you go !!!!!!

                          Reply#336 - Sat May 5, 2012 8:59 PM EDT

                          Good going scumballs. I sure hope the judge sprouts a pair and comes back at the next session and lays the law down for these guys as in, "YOU are in a court of law. It affords YOU the opportunity to prove that you are innocent. Should you decide to continue disrupting this court, we'll just save our American taxpayers the money and convict you RIGHT NOW. This trial should be looked at as an opportunity and not a joke. We take it seriously, so should you" or words to that effect. You KNOW these guys are going to make spectacles of themselves and cause all the additional grief that they are able. Patience is a virtue but mines' run out. Get on with it - WITH or WITHOUT their cooperation.

                            Reply#338 - Sat May 5, 2012 9:26 PM EDT

                            I really do hope they have more than one translator in the courtroom.. . . .I would be very wary if it was only one. . . .verify what each translator has translated. And PLEASE!!! What is with the woman with the head gear, we are accommodating the scums beliefs ??!!!! Require the 'head gear' OFF in a court of law. . . if she won't, get another fu@#%!@ stenographer or translator (whatever she's doing in there)!!!!

                              #338.1 - Sun May 6, 2012 10:15 AM EDT
                              Reply

                              I'm not so sure that our vaunted laws even apply to these guys. Would ANYBODY in the world be all that shocked should these guys be found guilty? Nope so save the suspense and carry on - with or without them.

                              What if an American acted the way they do in THEIR court or whatever passes for same? What if that American suddenly dropped to his knees and began praying to God or sat there dumbly reading a Penthouse while the court tried to get on with the case? Their judges would probably behead that American himself. Do unto others and all that.

                              I am not so sure our law will or can work on subjects like these. I have little enough faith in the court system as is and will gain less with each passing day these guys are around. I know I'll hear all about the great American way and that's how our law works but I am not so sure that it does and these bozos are laughing at us all. NOT FUNNY. Deal with them the way they are asking to be dealt with.

                                Reply#339 - Sat May 5, 2012 9:33 PM EDT

                                what these muzzy slime-balls need is a good German hangman and a good greased hemp rope i wouldn't bat an eyelash hanging these dung piles. This judge should sentence their lawyers to 1 year federal prison for their clients disruption of the tribunal and Eric Holden should be prosecuting these creeps to the fullest extent we lost well over 3000 men and women in these attacks I say no needle!! HANG EM HIGH!!!

                                  Reply#340 - Sat May 5, 2012 9:34 PM EDT

                                  This trial is a farce and being made a mockery by these islamic nutjobs, which is exactly why I'm glad the SEAL team took out Bin Laden! If you think this trial is a joke, imagine what the Bin Laden trial would have been like! Years of court proceedings followed by years and years of appeals! They should give these islamic POS scumbags the same type of trial they gave Daniel Pearl-cut of their heads off, show the video, and then give them a proper burial by allowing the male members of some of the 9-11 victims families to piss on their stinky azz bodies, bathe their bodies in pigs blood, and throw their corpses in a dirt grave on a pig farm somewhere! Muslims hate pigs and think they can't go to heaven if they come into contact with them-great, let their bodies rest in uncomfort buried on a pig farm...screw this trial and screw their right to a proper Muslim burial-they're not proper Muslims! Give them some eye for an eye biblical justice...

                                  • 1 vote
                                  Reply#341 - Sat May 5, 2012 9:36 PM EDT

                                  I am afraid that I agree with many here: drop these suckers into a pig pen and feed them McRibs until they pop. Case closed. Or simply ask them, "hey, are you guilty of this or not?" IF they say "no" say, "prove it". This could take forever should the judge let them run his court. Contempt in this case should carry the death penalty. 2 warnings and that's it.

                                    Reply#342 - Sat May 5, 2012 9:44 PM EDT

                                    Is it me or do two of those plaintiffs look remarkably like two of the 9/11 hijackers Al Hazanawi and Hanjour? I dont mean this in a racistor xenophobic way.... it looks like the same guys, aged slightly. Mabe MSNBC just went "google happy" with the pictures and figured noone would notice

                                      Reply#343 - Sat May 5, 2012 9:44 PM EDT

                                      Is any surprised the Muslims would turn our judicial system upside down against us—The world has studied every phase of the American way of life—America has educated millions of foreigners not all of which were friendly to us then or now. And now the world watches in interest as our political system try's to procute these men—no matter what happens the US will not please the bulk of foreigners who watch and listen to these proceedings—America has become the world's joke in failed foreign policy and failed domestic policy—any one venture how much these trials will cost, and how much has already been spent incarcerating these four men alone..

                                        Reply#344 - Sat May 5, 2012 9:45 PM EDT

                                        good point man. Thinking about how expensive it is to house someone in a county jail is mind numbing; I can't imagine the cost of holding someone at Gmo Bay.

                                          #344.1 - Sat May 5, 2012 9:54 PM EDT
                                          Reply
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