9/11 defendants ignore judge at Guantanamo hearing

They knelt in prayer, ignored the judge and wouldn't listen to Arabic translations as they confronted nearly 3,000 counts of murder. The self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks and four co-defendants defiantly disrupted an arraignment that ended late Saturday night in the opening act of the long-stalled effort to prosecute them in a military court.

In this photo of a sketch by courtroom artist Janet Hamlin and reviewed by the U.S. Department of Defense, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed reads a document during his military hearing at the Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base in Cuba, Saturday, May 5, 2012. The self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed repeatedly declined to respond to a judge's questions Saturday and his co-defendant Walid bin Attash was briefly restrained at a military hearing as five men charged with the worst terror attack in U.S. history appeared in public for the first time in more than three years.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the admitted architect of the attacks that sent hijacked jetliners into New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and the four men accused of aiding the 9/11 conspiracy put off entering pleas until a later date. Another hearing was set for June 12.

It wasn't until more than seven hours into the disrupted and prolonged hearing that prosecutors at the U.S. military base in Cuba even began reading the charges against the men, including 2,976 counts of murder and terrorism that carry the death penalty.

Earlier Saturday, Mohammed cast off his earphones providing Arabic translations of the proceeding and refused to answer Army Col. James Pohl's questions or acknowledge he understood them. All five men refused to participate in the hearing; two passed around a copy of The Economist magazine and leafed through the articles.

Walid bin Attash was confined to a restraint chair when he came into court, released only after he promised to behave.  CONTINUE .. . . .

Assad vows to crush 'terrorism' with iron fist conspiracy'

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad blamed foreign plotters Tuesday for the deadly 10-month-old protests against his regime and vowed to crush their "terrorism" with an iron fist.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad blamed the unabated violence in his country on "external conspiracies," criticized the Arab League as toothless and said that the international call for reform wasn't taking into account what the country was really facing: terrorism.

The Syrian National Council (SNC), the largest opposition umbrella group, branded Assad's rare speech an "incitement to violence" that pushes the country closer to a civil war.

In the speech just hours before the UN Security Council was to discuss Syria, Assad denied security forces had orders to fire on civilian protesters, even as activists reported regime gunmen killed 13 more civilians.

Thousands have been reported killed by security forces throughout the uprising. Death estimates range from more than 5,000 to more than 6,000. The Syrian government has consistently blamed the violence on "terrorists" and al-Assad denied that he commanded forces to open fire on protesters.

"I would like to confirm that there were no orders by any departments of the state to fire on people," he said.

Assad said the unrest, which the United Nations estimated last month has cost more than 5,000 lives since March, would only come to an end "when the flow of funds and weapons coming from abroad stops."

While he did not explicitly point the finger at a particular country, al-Assad blamed the unrest on both Western and Arab elements as world pressure mounted on his embattled government for its 10-month-long crackdown against protesters.

The address repeated what has become a familiar refrain as Mr. Assad, as he faces his greatest challenge in more than 11 years of authoritarian rule. He pledged to crush what he has cast as terrorism and sabotage, while offering somewhat vague promises of reform. The tenor of his remarks, and his seeming show of confidence, underscored the irreconcilable nature of Syria’s crisis, which pits a protest movement demanding that Mr. Assad leave office against a government that rarely acknowledges their grievances.

Meanwhile, bombing attacks in Damascus, the capital, have killed scores of people over the past month. The government has said that foreign-backed terrorists were responsible; the opposition claims the government carried out the bombings itself in a cynical effort to sully the protesters’ image.

Muslims to joined peace conference

Muslims to attend peace conference

Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri is to issue a declaration for global
peace at the Peace for Humanity event at Wembley Arena

More than 12,000 Muslims are to attend a peace conference at Wembley Arena.

The Peace for Humanity event is to be addressed by a leading Islamic scholar who will call for an end to terrorism and violence.

Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri, founder of Islamic organisation Minhaj-ul-Quran International, which is behind the London conference, will issue a declaration for global peace, saying: "We reject unequivocally all terrorism because at the heart of all religions is a belief in the sanctity of the lives of the innocent.

Video messages of support from Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Labour leader Ed Miliband will be shown to those attending.

Mr Clegg said: "Your conference today is even more important than usual - coming together to talk openly and candidly about the issues that can divide people but crucially the values that unite us too, tolerance, human rights, peace, and belief in opportunity for all, a faith in young people and their potential to learn from our mistakes, from the mistakes of the past, to help tackle discrimination and prejudice, building communities that are strong, where we take on our problems together."

Mr Miliband said in his message that the "values of tolerance, understanding and of bringing people together" demonstrated by the conference was "exactly what our society needs".
He said: "A month or so ago we saw the terrible riots that affected some of our major cities but what we also saw was the vast majority of people, right across this country, coming out, cleaning up and saying 'no' to the violence that we saw on our streets.

"It's exactly that message of peace, harmony and working together that I know your conference is designed to promote. And indeed the way you come at the issues that you'll be talking about today, your faith, is such an important part of British life."

A collective multi-faith prayer will be said at the event, and a campaign to get a million signatures to back the declaration for peace will be launched.