Saakashvili returns citizenship to Ivanishvili

TBILISI - Agence France-Presse

Self-proclaimed 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed said Oct. 15 during a pre-trial hearing at Guantanamo that there was “no justice” in the U.S. military tribunal.

Mohammed is accused of orchestrating the hijacked airliner plot that left 2,976 people dead on Sept. 11, 2001, while his four co-defendants are charged with providing funding and other support for those who crashed the jets. All five face the death penalty if convicted, but their trial by military tribunal at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo, Cuba is not expected to start for at least another year.

“I don’t think there’s any justice in this court,” the 47-year-old Sheikh Mohammed, wearing a white turban, his beard dyed with henna, said in Arabic when asked whether he understood his rights by Judge James Pohl. Pohl ruled that the defendants can leave the courtroom during the hearings or opt not to attend at all, as long as they “understand their rights.”

During the five-day pre-trial hearing, the defense is trying to stop President Barack Obama’s administration from arguing that the treatment and alleged torture of the defendants during interrogations in secret CIA prisons before being sent to Guantanamo in 2006 is classified for national security. Media organizations and rights groups are demanding that the judge guarantee the transparency of proceedings amid concerns that some sessions will be conducted in secret.