FIVE alleged 9/11 plotters who were to appear before a judge at Guantanamo Bay disrupted the US military court yesterday. The five accused, including alleged mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, refused to attend the hearing, the BBC reported.
The judge rejected prosecution calls for them to be compelled to attend but three did appear after a two-hour delay.
| If they want to be judged without being present, fine by me ... |
Walid bin Attash, Ali Abdul al-Aziz Ali and Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi entered the courtroom. But Mr al-Hawsawi asked to leave after he was refused the opportunity to speak. He was escorted out by military guards.
Mr bin Attash asked the judge whether he could question a witness. When told he could not, he asked: "Even if he told lies?" When the judge insisted he could not question the witness, Mr bin Attash replied: "This is good justice!"
Yesterday's hearing was meant to focus on whether Mr Hawsawi and another defendant, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, were mentally competent to represent themselves.
The military lawyer representing Mr bin al-Shibh said he suffered from a delusional disorder. When the lawyer went into detail about how he had been deprived of sleep, her microphone was cut off by a censor.
"The government can't hide the fact that they used sleep deprivation," she said before the audio feed outside the courtroom was cut. The audio is on a 40-second delay that allows a security officer to block material believed to be classified.
| Sleep deprivation is an 'enhanced interrogation technique'. Works, too ... |
The prosecutor later said Mr bin al-Shibh's complaints of sleep deprivation could be explained by the diagnosis that he suffers from delusions.
| And they were such informative delusions ... |
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