GUANTANAMO BAY, CUBA — A Sudanese prisoner with long ties to Osama bin Laden told the war-crimes tribunal here Thursday that the Sept. 11 attacks dealt heavy blows to U.S. security and exposed the "hypocrisy" behind American claims that it stands for equality and justice.
Appearing at his arraignment, Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud Qosi refused to accept legal representation for his trial before the Pentagon's military commissions.
After a rambling statement, he announced that he would boycott further proceedings.
The bearded 47-year-old was the third Guantanamo defendant in the last month to call the military tribunal illegitimate and refuse to cooperate in his own defense.
"I leave in your hands the camel and its load for you to do whatever you wish," he told Air Force Lt. Col. Nancy Paul, the judge preparing for his trial on charges of conspiracy and material support for terrorism.
Qosi also accused the U.S. military of discrimination against citizens of the Third World, noting that two British detainees and an Australian charged along with him four years ago have since been released under pressure from those governments.
"The only war crime I committed and for which I'm being tried today before you and which I admit having committed is, in truth, my nationality," said the tall, slender Qosi. "My crime is that I'm a Sudanese citizen."
A day earlier, Saudi prisoner Ahmed Muhammed Ahmed Haza Darbi deemed the tribunal a "sham" and announced that he would boycott subsequent sessions. On March 12, Afghan defendant Mohammed Jawad also rejected the forum.
The succession of defendants refusing to cooperate with the tribunal puts the onus on the U.S. government to "show that this is not a complete sham," said Jamil Dakwar, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union observing the arraignment.
He said Qosi's claim of nationality bias called into question "the guarantee of equality before the law that is a hallmark of American justice."
The chief prosecutor for the commissions, Army Col. Lawrence Morris, said that he was concerned about the boycotts but that the government remained committed to a just process.
Paul accepted Qosi's rejection of legal representation by Navy Cmdr. Suzanne Lachelier or any other lawyer willing to submit to the government's rules and practices.
