Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who has told authorities he was behind the hijacking plot, wore the woodland-style camouflage vest with a white tunic and turban at a pretrial hearing at the U.S. base in Guantanamo, Cuba.
The 47-year-old prisoner's attire had no apparent effect on the proceedings. No one mentioned Mohammed's clothing, and he stayed silent for much of the day until he delivered a monologue condemning the prosecution for arguing that some information about his treatment in CIA custody must be kept secret to protect national security.
"The government uses national security as it chooses," the Arabic-speaking Mohammed said through a translator while seated at a defense table. "Many can kill people under the name of national security and torture people in the name of national security."
His remarks drew a rebuke from the military judge, Army Col. James Pohl, who said defendants are not generally permitted to comment on proceedings.
"This is a one-time occurrence," he told the defendant, who has a history of grandiose and sometimes inflammatory statements.
Mohammed, whose bushy beard is dyed a rust color with henna, considers himself a prisoner of war and has sought the same right to wear a uniform as Japanese and German troops prosecuted for war crimes after World War II. In the defendant's case, his uniform is similar to what he wore as a mujahideen fighter in Bosnia and Afghanistan, said one of his lawyers, Army Capt. Jason Wright.
But when Mohammed and a co-defendant sought to wear camouflage at their May 5 arraignment, their request was denied. At the time, the commander of the Guantanamo Bay prison suggested that the camouflage might make it harder for the military prison guards to tell the difference between inmates and U.S. troops if they had to gain control of the prisoners.
Prosecutors also argued it might make a mockery of the military tribunals.
"The detainee's attire should not transform this commission into a vehicle for propaganda and undermine the atmosphere that is conducive to calm and detached deliberation and determination of the issues," prosecutors wrote in a court motion.
Judge Pohl rejected those arguments Tuesday. He dismissed the possibility that military guards in the courtroom would have any problem distinguishing the bearded defendants. But just to be sure, he specifically prohibited them from wearing any items from U.S. military uniforms.
There was no apparent reaction to the camouflage from the small group of relatives of Sept. 11 victims who were chosen by lottery to view the proceedings at the base. One of them, Al Acquaviva, stood at the soundproof glass that separates spectators from the courtroom and held up a photo of his son Paul, who was killed in the World Trade Center, as Mohammed was entering the courtroom.
"I hope he looks," Acquaviva, who lives in Wayne, N.J., muttered to himself.
Most of Wednesday's hearing dealt with security rules that the government has proposed to prevent the inadvertent release of classified information. The government has already acknowledged some details about the secret CIA prisons where the defendants were held for several years, including the fact that Mohammed was water-boarded 183 times. But prosecutors have said restrictions are necessary to prevent the release of information that would reveal intelligence sources and methods.
A lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, Hina Shamsi, urged the judge to reject the proposed restrictions, arguing that they were overly broad and intended not to protect national security so much as to prevent the public from learning more details about the harsh treatment of the defendants in the CIA's prisons overseas.
"We are aware, your honor, of no other protective order that is as radical as what the government is asking you to judicially bless here," Shamsi said.
But government prosecutor Joanna Baltes said the ACLU and other critics of the proposed rules are exaggerating the restrictions. She said the restrictions, known as protective orders, are similar to those in major terrorism cases in civilian courts.
"I think it is a very inflammatory allegation for the ACLU to come in and claim they have never seen anything like this," Baltes said.
Mohammed and his four co-defendants are accused of planning and aiding the Sept. 11 attacks. They face charges that include terrorism, conspiracy and 2,976 counts of murder in violation of the law of war, one count for each known victim of the attacks at the time the charges were filed. They could get the death penalty if convicted.
The court is holding a hearing this week on about two dozen motions in preparation for a trial that is likely at least a year away.
No comments:
Post a Comment