Thursday, July 10, 2008

9/11: no-show defendants & classified evidence

hearing delayed after 9/11 defendant wouldn't come, lawyer says
hearing delayed after 9/11 defendant wouldn't come, lawyer saysfrom miami herald: Alleged 9/11 hijack conspirator Ramzi bin al Shibh reportedly refused to leave his prison camp cell Thursday, causing a military judge to postpone his hearing by a month.

"He wouldn't come," said attorney Anthony Romero of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Romero said military staff at the war court notified observers of bin al Shibh's refusal to leave his Camp 7 cell as they waited at Camp Justice for his 8:30 a.m. military commission hearing.

War court spokesmen were unable to confirm the report. They said only that bin al Shibh's appearance was postponed until a mental health competency hearing Aug. 15.

Bin al Shibh, 36, is one of five former CIA-held Guantanamo captives accused as co-conspirators in the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks that killed 2,973 people.


9/11 defendant argues to see classified evidence
9/11 defendant argues to see classified evidencefrom mcclatchy: An alleged al Qaida fighter accused of training the Sept. 11 hijackers sought access to classified evidence Thursday, reassuring the war court here that, once convicted, he'll take U.S. secrets to his grave.

"If I am going to receive the death sentence, this evidence will go with me," declared Waleed bin Attash, a one-legged Yemeni captive accused of running an al Qaida camp in Afghanistan.

After execution, he said, the secrets "will be better protected than in the hands of the FBI and CIA."

Bin Attash made the remarks at a hearing before Judge Ralph Kohlmann, a Marine colonel who will preside at the war crimes trial of five Guantánamo captives accused of conspiring in the mass murder of 2,973 people on Sept. 11, 2001.

At least four of the men want to defend themselves. Kohlmann has been warning them that, even as their own lawyers, they can't see or challenge classified evidence until their trial.

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