9/11 suspects go before tribunal

Associated Press

ANDREWS AIR FORCE BASE, Md.

Five men accused of orchestrating the Sept. 11 attacks, including the self-proclaimed mastermind, are headed back to a military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay today, more than three years after President Barack Obama put the case on hold in a failed effort to move the proceedings to a civilian court and close the prison at the U.S. base in Cuba.

This time the defendants may put up a fight.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who told military authorities that he was responsible for the planning of the terror assault “from A to Z,” previously mocked the tribunal and said he would welcome the death penalty. His co-defendant, Ramzi Binalshibh, told the court that he was proud of the attacks.

But Jim Harrington, the civilian lawyer for Binashibh, said the defendants are expected to fight the charges against them, which include murder and terrorism and carry a potential death penalty.

“He has no intention of pleading guilty,” Harrington said. “I don’t think anyone is going to plead guilty.’ Harrington declined to say what would be the basis of his defense, and lawyers for Mohammed did not respond to messages seeking comment.

The men never entered formal pleas in previous hearings, but Mohammed told the court that he would confess planning the attacks and hoped to be a “martyr.”

The arraignment today, before an audience that includes a handful of people who lost family members in the Sept. 11 attacks as well as journalists and human-rights observers, will be followed by a hearing on a series of defense motions that challenge the charges and the extreme secrecy rules imposed to prevent the release of information about U.S. counterterrorism methods and strategy. The start of their actual trial is at least a year away.