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9/11 ‘Mastermind’ Disrupts Trial

Five accused of plot refuse to answer questions.

Self-proclaimed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his codefendants disrupted the first day of their trial Saturday, refusing to answer questions. The five alleged conspirators—charged with 2,976 counts of murder—also refused to enter pleas on the charges. During the nine-hour hearing, one of the defendants said that he thought Americans may attempt to kill him before the trial is completed. Another spent several minutes praying while kneeling on the courtroom floor, and a third had to be temporarily retrained in his chair. A handful of people whose family members died in the terrorist strikes in 2001 attended the proceedings at Guantanamo Bay.