WORLD> America
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9/11 mastermind takes lead role in Gitmo courtroom
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-09-24 09:56 GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba - Professed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed took center stage in a military court Tuesday as he questioned the judge's impartiality and acted as the de facto spokesman for his four co-defendants. Mohammed, the highest-profile al-Qaida figure in US custody, boasted at a 2007 closed hearing that he was responsible for 31 terrorist plots and the Sept. 11 attacks "from A to Z" -- claims that US officials said were exaggerated.
Mohammed's interactions with the judge and his co-defendants on Tuesday underscored his taste for the limelight and sense of authority. The former al-Qaida No 3 has led his co-defendants in raising challenges to the court and even assisted in getting a boycotting co-defendant to leave his cell. Glaring at Judge Ralph Kohlmann from beneath bushy eyebrows and a black turban, Mohammed pressed the Marine colonel to explain how he could provide a fair trial as a member of the US Armed Forces that are at war with al-Qaida. "How can you, as an officer of the US Marine Corps, stand over me in judgment?" Mohammed, who is acting as his own lawyer, asked in English. "How can you be unbiased, given your position?" Mohammed also questioned the judge about his religion, his Marine training and his knowledge of waterboarding and other harsh interrogation tactics Mohammed experienced in CIA custody before he and his co-defendants were transferred to this US military base in southeast Cuba in September 2006. Seeking to justify his question about Kohlmann's religious faith, Mohammed declared that "there are some extremist organizations in America that are against us." "If you, for example, were part of Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson's groups, then you would not at all be impartial toward us," Mohammed continued. Kohlmann, wearing black judge's robes over his uniform, responded that he doesn't belong to a church now but has attended Lutheran and Episcopalian services. He said he had seen references to the prisoners' treatment in CIA custody but has not read detailed accounts of their experience. According to the rules set forth for the first US war-crimes trials since the end of World War II, the judge can exclude evidence that he determines was obtained through torture. But Kohlmann made clear his patience is limited. He scolded Mohammed twice for ignoring his instructions to stick to the topic at hand, and warned he could lose the right to represent himself. "You are not going to have free rein," Kohlmann intoned from the bench. "I will not allow you to act in a manner that is disrespectful to this court." |