FORT MEADE, Md. — The Sept. 11 war-crimes case before a military commission at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, resumed relatively smoothly on Monday as five men accused of being co-conspirators in the attacks were calm and cooperative in the first session of a weeklong pretrial hearing.
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the self-described mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and the other four defendants each spoke directly — some through a translator — with the judge, Col. James L. Pohl of the Army. The atmosphere on the first day contrasted sharply with a chaotic arraignment hearing in May, when they refused to answer the judge's questions.
On Monday, when the judge asked each whether he understood his right to decide not to attend sessions of the commission — and that choosing to stay away could damage his defense — each replied to him.
"Yes, but I don't think there is any justice in this court," Mr. Mohammed said.
The military installed small speakers that quietly broadcast a simultaneous Arabic translation near the seats of the five defendants. In May, the five men refused to wear their headphones, forcing translators to repeat every utterance in Arabic over courtroom loudspeakers, further slowing the proceedings.
Monday's session began a hearing of pretrial motions scheduled to last through the week at the high-security courtroom erected at Guantánamo for the long-delayed trial. The proceedings were shown to reporters at the base and those watching via a closed-circuit feed at Fort Meade outside Washington. The remote feed had a 40-second delay, giving the military the option of censoring any statement it deemed to include classified information.
The change from the chaotic May session was apparent early as two co-defendants, Mustafa Ahmed al Hawsawi and Ramzi bin al Shibh, spoke through translators directly with Colonel Pohl when he asked about a possible conflict of interest in Mr. al Hawsawi's defense team, which included Cmdr. Suzanne Lachelier of the Navy, who had represented Mr. bin al Shibh several years ago. The judge insisted that the defendants answer for themselves, and they did.
"I have no objection for Miss Lachelier to assist my brother Mustafa if he wants her," Mr. bin al Shibh told Colonel Pohl, gesturing with his right hand, fingers upstretched.
The judge also appeared to be stricter with the defense lawyers than he had been in May. During a discussion over whether detainees could refuse to come to court — prosecutors had asked the judge to compel their attendance — Colonel Pohl refused repeated attempts by Capt. Michael Schwartz of the Air Force, a lawyer for Walid bin Attash, to discuss torture, saying it was not relevant to the question.
In the subsequent exchanges between the judge and the defendants about their right to stay away from court, Colonel Pohl also made sure they understood that their trial would proceed without their participation if they managed to escape, an unlikely prospect that prompted several to question their translators and lawyers before answering.
Each defendant wore loose, white garb. Mr. Mohammed wore a gray vest and had a long, bushy, red, henna-dyed beard and wore a turban he had fashioned out of white cloth. Mr. bin Attash also had a turban and vest. Mr. bin al Shibh had tied a reddish cloth around his head that draped over his right shoulder. Mr. al Hawsawi appeared to be wearing a white cap and a patterned scarf. Ali Abd al Aziz Ali initially wore no cover over his slightly balding black hair, but later donned a round hat.
The first day of the hearing did not address one of the highest-profile disputes on the docket: a proposed protective order for secret information that says that anything the detainees may say about their own "conditions of confinement" in the custody of the Central Intelligence Agency or to the "enhanced interrogation techniques" to which they were subjected would be classified.
The American Civil Liberties Union has objected to that rule, and also to the 40-second delay for reporters, relatives of the victims and members of the public watching from the other side of soundproof windows at the back of the courtroom or via the closed-circuit delay at remote sites. A coalition of news organizations, including The New York Times, has also objected to restricting public access.
Defense lawyers are also complaining about working conditions at the base after mold and rat droppings were found in their main offices. Cheryl Bormann, a civilian lawyer for Mr. bin Attash, wore black Muslim dress that covered everything but her face as she stood to say that their other workroom had four computers for eight members of the defense team to use.
In May, she told reporters that she always dressed that way in the presence of her client to help him stay focused on a case that could end in his execution.
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