9/11 plotter eyes martyrdom
Friday, June 6, 2008
THE alleged mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks yesterday called to be sentenced to death so he could become a martyr at the start of a US military hearing of five alleged plotters.
"This is what I want, I'm looking to be a martyr for long time," Khaled Sheikh Mohammed, a Pakistani national, told the hearing at Guantanamo Bay as he was reminded by the military judge that he faced the death penalty.
"God is all sufficient for me," he translated into English as he read verses from the Quran, the Muslim holy book. He also threw out his appointed military and civilian defence team, saying he would defend himself.
Sheikh Mohammed, 43, has claimed to have been behind not just the September 11 attacks but also some 30 operations against the West in the past decade, according to transcripts of his interrogation released by the Pentagon.
His appearance yesterday is the first time he has been seen in public since his capture in Pakistan on March 1, 2003.
Dressed in white but not handcuffed, he appeared along with four alleged co-conspirators at the hearing at the controversial US naval base in southern Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
He and his alleged co-conspirators, Ramzi Binalshibh, Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, Wallid bin Attash and Mustapha al-Hawsawi have been charged for their role in the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon which killed some 3,000 people.
They all face the death penalty if convicted on charges including conspiracy, murder, amd attacking civilians.AFP
"This is what I want, I'm looking to be a martyr for long time," Khaled Sheikh Mohammed, a Pakistani national, told the hearing at Guantanamo Bay as he was reminded by the military judge that he faced the death penalty.
"God is all sufficient for me," he translated into English as he read verses from the Quran, the Muslim holy book. He also threw out his appointed military and civilian defence team, saying he would defend himself.
Sheikh Mohammed, 43, has claimed to have been behind not just the September 11 attacks but also some 30 operations against the West in the past decade, according to transcripts of his interrogation released by the Pentagon.
His appearance yesterday is the first time he has been seen in public since his capture in Pakistan on March 1, 2003.
Dressed in white but not handcuffed, he appeared along with four alleged co-conspirators at the hearing at the controversial US naval base in southern Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
He and his alleged co-conspirators, Ramzi Binalshibh, Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, Wallid bin Attash and Mustapha al-Hawsawi have been charged for their role in the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon which killed some 3,000 people.
They all face the death penalty if convicted on charges including conspiracy, murder, amd attacking civilians.AFP
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