US: 9/11 Suspects Refuse To Enter Plea
By RFE RL
(RFE/RL) — The five main suspects in planning the 9/11 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people eleven years ago have refused to enter a plea at their military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay.
Khalid Sheikh Muhammad, the self-confessed mastermind of the hijacked plane attacks, and his four co-defendants exercised their right to delay entering any plea to murder and terrorism charges that carry the death penalty.
The court proceedings lasted more than nine hours as Muhammad and his co-defendants refused to answer the judge’s questions.
Their joint military trial was delayed for years by a White House leadership change and disagreement over where and how to try the accused.
All the defendants were held for more than three years in secret CIA prisons before being sent to Guantanamo in 2006, and all have said they were tortured there.
