9/11 Defendants’ Hearing Was Rigged, Lawyers Say

[alp227]

Source: New York Times

Lawyers for five men charged before a military commission with conspiring in the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, complained on Sunday that the process was rigged to lead to the execution of their clients, and they offered new details and explanations for a sometimes chaotic daylong arraignment on Saturday.

Throughout the arraignment, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and the other four defendants refused to talk to — or even listen to — the judge. Several delayed the hearing by praying, and one shouted to the judge that guards at the prison might kill them. Another was brought to the court in restraints and later took off his shirt, before insisting that the full charges be read aloud, which lasted into the night.

One of the lawyers, James G. Connell III, who represents Ali Abd al Aziz Ali, said at a news conference on Sunday that the defendants’ refusal to acknowledge the judge was a “peaceful resistance to an unjust system.”

While Mr. Connell was prohibited from relaying anything his client had told him, he said, the defendants’ actions “appeared to be a coordinated strategy.”

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/07/us/lawyers-say-hearing-for-9-11-defendants-was-rigged.html?pagewanted=all

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Reuters reported: "An attorney for bin Attash, Cheryl Borman, who wore a black hijab and long black robe, told the court that mistreatment of her client at Guantanamo had interfered with his ability to take part in the proceedings. She asked that female paralegals and FBI agents sitting with the prosecution team dress with cultural sensitivity so that the defendants would not be forced to look away as their religion requires. The women in question were wearing pantsuits and knee-length skirts and blazers."

[msanthrope]

1. The defense lawyer wants the females on the prosecution team to dress so as not to offend Al Qaeda?

Yeah--that would have gone over so well with a civilian jury--who knows what they would have asked female jurors to do...

[geek tragedy]

6. Maybe they should ask the Jews and other infidels to leave the court room

while they're at it.

[msanthrope]

9. Can you imagine what a civilian jury selection would have looked like?

Wow..just wow...

Edited to add--I would have liked to see them in federal court, because federal court would have been able to handle the circus, but if that is not the wish of the Congress, then this is the solution.

[monmouth]

2. Call in the firing squad and be done with it...n/t

[harmonicon]

3. No shit it was rigged. This shit's more rigged than a Harlem Globetrotters game. (nt)

[Politicalboi]

4. It is rigged

Why would we accept statements from those who were tortured? I for the most part am for the death penalty, but also a FAIR trial. This needs to be a public trial. We the people deserve to see ALL the evidence. To settle for this atrocity of justice is just saying it's ok for our government to hide the truth. Where and what is the evidence? WHY can't WE SEE IT? Are they using the video tape of the Pentagon that they showed us? Thousands of camera's, but WE only see what THEY want us to see. Where are the pictures of the reconstruction of ANY plane? Oh that's right, there are none. Flight 800 gets brought up, but no time to reconstruct ANY plane for 9/11. WE already know who did it. No testimony as to why our DEFENSE failed that morning. Or why our biggest defense building gets attacked. LOL! Sounds perfectly reasonable.

Just forget about our differences about 9/11. Would this treatment be ok if it were one of us? If I were being held responsible for 9/11, I would want a public trial, with ALL the evidence out there for the world to see. I don't agree with their dress code demand, but they do deserve a FAIR trial. It's what we all would want for ourselves. We have an all male panel to talk about birth control, why not an all male prosecution. The mind games continue.

[Javaman]

8. It's just more kabuki theater for those who think this trial

is a representation of international law.

[geek tragedy]

5. His lawyer asked women in the court to wear burqas?

She asked that female paralegals and FBI agents sitting with the prosecution team dress with cultural sensitivity so that the defendants would not be forced to look away as their religion requires. The women in question were wearing pantsuits and knee-length skirts and blazers."

[mojowork_n]

7. More to the point, from the NYT article:

A crucial part of the case will be the defense’s effort to present evidence, as mitigation against death sentences, of torture while the defendants were in the custody of the C.I.A.

But the lead prosecutor, Brig. Gen. Mark S. Martins, speaking later, characterized such complaints as “a bit misleading.”

He said that the lawyers were prevented from giving documents about certain topics to their clients — about the identities of interrogators, for example — but that they were free to speak with them about anything. He also reiterated that prosecutors would not use evidence “polluted” by torture, but said that other evidence was available to prove the case.

From link, above, in the OP.