Disorder in the Court

Kohlmann, shooting down frequent interruptions by defense lawyers, then proceeded with a set of questions to make sure Mohammed understood the consequences of his choice. Attempting to dissuade the defendant, he emphasized that if he is found guilty, the military commission "could ultimately sentence you to death."

Mohammed made it clear he understood all too well. "Yes, this is what I wish: to be a martyr for a long time."

"So you could be sentenced to death?" Kohlmann repeated.

"Maybe you didn't understand what I said," Mohammed shot back. "Military forces are still in Iran and Afghanistan. They are still in our holy land. I am not talking about your American Constitution … your evil law. I am talking about God's law."

The hearing took further bizarre turns throughout this morning. Another of the defendants, Walid Bin Attash, an alleged 9/11 supporting player and also a key figure in the October 2002 bombing of the USS Cole, also rejected his court-appointed lawyers and declared his intention to represent himself. "I am a Muslim and I believe in God, and I reject this session," he said. Another court-appointed lawyer, Thomas Durkin, a notable criminal defense lawyer out of Chicago, ignored repeated admonitions by Kohlmann to "sit down" and stop talking. He told the judge that his client, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, was on "medication" and incapable of making a decision at the moment about how he will be represented. (Bin al-Shibh, a former roommate of lead hijacker Mohammed Atta who is accused of playing a key role in plotting the attacks, was also the only defendant whose legs were shackled in the courtroom.)

After his initial declaration—and twice invoking President Bush by name for invading Iraq and Afghanistan—Mohammed later said he would be willing to allow his appointed defense lawyers to stay on the case as his advisers and that he even might later "change his mind" about representing himself. But his apparent intention to attempt to dominate the proceedings was quickly underscored during a lunchtime recess when, after intensely studying an authorized artist's sketch of himself about to be released to the news media, he rejected it as inadequate. He told court personnel that he wanted the nose in the sketch to look more like the one in an FBI photo of himself, according to a Pentagon spokesman who witnessed the exchange. Mohammed was apparently given veto power over the sketch, and it was not released.

Update: The afternoon session proved every bit as tumultuous. Bin al-Shibh confessed his chagrin that he never got to become a 9/11 "martyr" and there was further squabbling between lawyers and the judge—much of it blotted out from the news media—about the circumstances surrounding the forced "psychotropic" medication being given to the defendant (apparently to keep him sedated). Meanwhile, another defendant, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali—accused of being a key financier for the attacks—seemed to mock the court, proclaiming that he too had been tortured "free of charge" for years and declaring the entire proceedings unjust and "political."