The five men accused of plotting 9/11 appeared in a Guantanamo Bay military court Tuesday, but the murder of 3,000 people faded into the background as testimony focused on whether female guards should have been allowed to touch the detainees.
Proceedings against Pakistan-born Khalid Sheikh Mohammed -- who has publicly admitted to being the principal planner of the September 11, 2001 attacks -- and his four co-defendants have gotten bogged down by complaints stemming from the use of women guards to escort them to and from the courthouse.
As strict Muslims, the inmates say it was inappropriate for women to handle them, and Mohammed has said it makes him flash back to the torture and sexual humiliation meted out by the Cental Intelligence Agency after he was captured in Pakistan in 2003 and sent to secret prisons.
Prison policy bars women guards from watching the inmates shower or conducting body searches, and authorities have tried to accommodate religious requests including by providing Halal food, undisturbed prayer time and by not touching Korans.
But the only witness called Tuesday, a female Army lieutenant colonel who commanded Camp Seven where the detainees are housed, said that when she took the job in March 2014, she needed to use some women soldiers so all positions could properly be filled.
Citing prison operating procedures, Mohammed's attorney David Nevin asked if "close contact with unrelated females is culturally inappropriate."
The witness, who works for the Massachusetts National Guard and is a 33-year military police veteran, was testifying via video from the United States.
"We accommodated their religious practices within our ability to do so," she said.
"While I appreciated their concerns, operationally I needed to use all of my soldiers," the witness later added.
She added it wouldn't be fair for women to be overlooked for such roles, because this could adversely impact their career paths.
The judge in the case, Colonel James Pohl, in January ordered the military to stop using female guards; the issue actually dates back more than a year.
His order elicited outrage from the corridors of the Pentagon, whose chief Ashton Carter last week issued a "No Exceptions" directive ordering the US military to open all jobs -- including combat positions -- to women.
Critics say Pohl is prioritizing inmates' cultural concerns over the rights of women guards to an equal footing. The female guards in question have filed a gender-discrimination complaint.
- Arrows pointing to Mecca -
The five accused were seated alongside their defense teams, with Mohammed at the front of the courtroom and the others in rows behind him.
Mohammed -- better known by his initials KSM -- wore a black-and-white shawl, a red-and-white headscarf and a camouflaged military jacket. He also was sporting a bushy, bright orange beard.
The other four accused are: Walid bin Attash and Ramzi Binalshibh of Yemen, Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali -- Mohammed's nephew -- and Mustapha al-Hawsawi of Saudi Arabia.
Al-Hawsawi -- a slight man with glasses and a beard -- sat on a white cushion throughout the day's hearing. He claims this is because he suffered damage to his rectum during aggressive CIA body-cavity searches and has been denied surgery to correct it.
His lawyers have argued that the violence of the searches amounts to sodomy.
At least three defendants brought prayer mats into court. The men were given breaks to pray and were escorted to small yellow cells behind the military courthouse in which a blue arrow pointing to Mecca had been painted on the floor.
The men are charged with eight offenses: conspiracy, attacking civilians, attacking civilian objects, intentionally causing serious bodily injury, murder in violation of the law of war, destruction of property in violation of the law of war, hijacking or hazarding a vessel or aircraft, and terrorism.
Their case -- already one of the longest prosecutions in American history and with no end in sight -- has slowed to a crawl thanks to numerous defense motions and allegations of government misconduct, coupled with the logistical headache of flying the judge, lawyers and other staff into and out of the remote US naval base every time the men appear in court.
The hearings are set to resume Wednesday.
The five men accused of plotting 9/11 appeared in a Guantanamo Bay military court Tuesday, but the murder of 3,000 people faded into the background as testimony focused on whether female guards should have been allowed to touch the detainees.
Proceedings against Pakistan-born Khalid Sheikh Mohammed — who has publicly admitted to being the principal planner of the September 11, 2001 attacks — and his four co-defendants have gotten bogged down by complaints stemming from the use of women guards to escort them to and from the courthouse.
As strict Muslims, the inmates say it was inappropriate for women to handle them, and Mohammed has said it makes him flash back to the torture and sexual humiliation meted out by the Cental Intelligence Agency after he was captured in Pakistan in 2003 and sent to secret prisons.
Prison policy bars women guards from watching the inmates shower or conducting body searches, and authorities have tried to accommodate religious requests including by providing Halal food, undisturbed prayer time and by not touching Korans.
But the only witness called Tuesday, a female Army lieutenant colonel who commanded Camp Seven where the detainees are housed, said that when she took the job in March 2014, she needed to use some women soldiers so all positions could properly be filled.
Citing prison operating procedures, Mohammed’s attorney David Nevin asked if “close contact with unrelated females is culturally inappropriate.”
The witness, who works for the Massachusetts National Guard and is a 33-year military police veteran, was testifying via video from the United States.
“We accommodated their religious practices within our ability to do so,” she said.
“While I appreciated their concerns, operationally I needed to use all of my soldiers,” the witness later added.
She added it wouldn’t be fair for women to be overlooked for such roles, because this could adversely impact their career paths.
The judge in the case, Colonel James Pohl, in January ordered the military to stop using female guards; the issue actually dates back more than a year.
His order elicited outrage from the corridors of the Pentagon, whose chief Ashton Carter last week issued a “No Exceptions” directive ordering the US military to open all jobs — including combat positions — to women.
Critics say Pohl is prioritizing inmates’ cultural concerns over the rights of women guards to an equal footing. The female guards in question have filed a gender-discrimination complaint.
– Arrows pointing to Mecca –
The five accused were seated alongside their defense teams, with Mohammed at the front of the courtroom and the others in rows behind him.
Mohammed — better known by his initials KSM — wore a black-and-white shawl, a red-and-white headscarf and a camouflaged military jacket. He also was sporting a bushy, bright orange beard.
The other four accused are: Walid bin Attash and Ramzi Binalshibh of Yemen, Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali — Mohammed’s nephew — and Mustapha al-Hawsawi of Saudi Arabia.
Al-Hawsawi — a slight man with glasses and a beard — sat on a white cushion throughout the day’s hearing. He claims this is because he suffered damage to his rectum during aggressive CIA body-cavity searches and has been denied surgery to correct it.
His lawyers have argued that the violence of the searches amounts to sodomy.
At least three defendants brought prayer mats into court. The men were given breaks to pray and were escorted to small yellow cells behind the military courthouse in which a blue arrow pointing to Mecca had been painted on the floor.
The men are charged with eight offenses: conspiracy, attacking civilians, attacking civilian objects, intentionally causing serious bodily injury, murder in violation of the law of war, destruction of property in violation of the law of war, hijacking or hazarding a vessel or aircraft, and terrorism.
Their case — already one of the longest prosecutions in American history and with no end in sight — has slowed to a crawl thanks to numerous defense motions and allegations of government misconduct, coupled with the logistical headache of flying the judge, lawyers and other staff into and out of the remote US naval base every time the men appear in court.
The hearings are set to resume Wednesday.
