TOP 9/11 SUSPECTS TO PLEAD GUILTY!
Alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four co-defendants have told a military judge at Guantanamo Bay they want to confess and plead guilty.
The judge at the pre-trial hearing, Col Stephen Henley, said he would question the men to ensure that was their wish.
Mr Mohammed had earlier said he wished to be executed and achieve martyrdom, but had still mounted a defence.
The five accused face the death penalty if convicted of a role in killing 2,973 people in the suicide plane attacks.
No date has been set for the five men's full military tribunal, and their appearance in court on Monday followed hearings held under a judge who resigned last month.
The BBC's Jonathan Beale says the hearing started amid an air of uncertainty over the future of the Guantanamo Bay detention centre, where Mr Mohammed and some 250 other terrorism suspects are being held.
US President-elect Barack Obama has promised to close it down amid controversy over the inmates' legal status and interrogation techniques used on them, casting doubt on whether the tribunal would ever go ahead in its current form.
For the first time, nine relatives of the victims were flown to Cuba by the US military to watch Monday's pre-trial proceedings. They were separated from Mr Mohammed and his four co-defendants by glass.
At the opening of the proceedings, the military judge read aloud a letter in which the men said wanted immediately to "withdraw all motions... and wished to enter pleas in what was termed as confessions in this case".
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The judge at the pre-trial hearing, Col Stephen Henley, said he would question the men to ensure that was their wish.
Mr Mohammed had earlier said he wished to be executed and achieve martyrdom, but had still mounted a defence.
The five accused face the death penalty if convicted of a role in killing 2,973 people in the suicide plane attacks.
No date has been set for the five men's full military tribunal, and their appearance in court on Monday followed hearings held under a judge who resigned last month.
The BBC's Jonathan Beale says the hearing started amid an air of uncertainty over the future of the Guantanamo Bay detention centre, where Mr Mohammed and some 250 other terrorism suspects are being held.
US President-elect Barack Obama has promised to close it down amid controversy over the inmates' legal status and interrogation techniques used on them, casting doubt on whether the tribunal would ever go ahead in its current form.
For the first time, nine relatives of the victims were flown to Cuba by the US military to watch Monday's pre-trial proceedings. They were separated from Mr Mohammed and his four co-defendants by glass.
At the opening of the proceedings, the military judge read aloud a letter in which the men said wanted immediately to "withdraw all motions... and wished to enter pleas in what was termed as confessions in this case".
Obama's Guantanamo dilemma
Beginning of end?
Q&A: Military tribunals
"We all five have reached an agreement to request from the commission an immediate hearing session in order to announce our confessions... with our earnest desire in this regard without being under any kind of pressure, threat, intimidations or promise from any party," Col Stephen Henley told the court.
When asked by the judge if he was prepared to enter a plea of guilty to all the charges should he be allowed to withdraw their motions, Mr Mohammed said "yes".
"We don't want to waste time," he added, according to the AFP news agency.
The Kuwaiti-born suspect also told the judge that he did not trust his military-appointed lawyer.
He has already admitted being responsible "from A to Z" for the 9/11 attacks on the US, according to the Pentagon, although questions remain about whether the confession was obtained by torture.
At a hearing in June, when informed that he faced the death penalty, Mr Mohammed said he had been looking to "be a martyr for long time". "This is what I want, he stated.
His co-defendants are:
• Ramzi Binalshibh, a Yemeni described by the US as the co-ordinator of the 9/11 attacks who, according to intelligence officials, was supposed to be have been one of the hijackers, but was unable to get a US visa
• Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi, a Saudi man said by US intelligence officials to be one of two key financial people used by Mr Mohammed to arrange the funding for the 11 September hijackings
• Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, also known as Amar al-Balochi, who is accused of serving as a key lieutenant to Mr Mohammed, his uncle
• Walid Bin Attash, a Yemeni national who, according to the Pentagon, has admitted masterminding the bombing of the American destroyer USS Cole in Yemen in 2000, and is also accused of involvement in the 9/11 attacks
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Labels: 9/11 Suspects U.S. Guantanamo-Bay Confess Cuba Guilty Confession Judge Pleas
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