Friday, October 19, 2012

The Jury Will Disregard Defendant's Statement

And the reporter will strike it from the record.

Ooops.  Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (the "9/11 mastermind") was allowed a statement before his trial begins.

"When the government feels sad for the death, the killing of 300 people killed on September 11th, we should also feel sorry that the American government represented by General Martins [chief prosecutor in the case against Mohammed] and others have killed thousands of people. Millions." 

Mohammed continued on to reference the April 2011 raid that killed Osama bin Laden, saying, "Many can kill people under the name of national security, and to torture people under the name of national security and defame children under the name of national security - underage children - I don't want to be long but I can say that the President can take someone and throw him under the sea in the name of national security. And so he can also legislate assassinations under the name of national security for American nationals, American citizens."

[...]

He ended with a plea to the judge: "My only advice to you that you do not get affected by the crocodile tears.  Because your blood is not made out of gold and ours is not made out of water. We are all human beings."

[...]

Judge Pohl, too, appeared stunned, noting that while he didn't interrupt Mohammed, this sort of speech was a one-time occurrence not normal to the proceedings. He said: "I'm not going to again entertain personal comments of the accused of the way things are going. This is his personal thought; he has the right to that opinion but he doesn't have the right to interrupt proceedings. This is not to be interpreted as this is an acceptable procedure. This was a one-time thing for Mr. Mohammed.

  alJazeera

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