GUANTANAMO BAY, Dec 8: Alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and co-defendants said on Monday that they would plead guilty to terror charges.

“The accused in this case have decided that they wish to withdraw all motions... and enter confession pleas,” said Col Stephen Henley, the judge of the military tribunal at the US naval base, in pre-trial proceedings.

He read out a letter submitted by Khalid Sheikh and others, stating that they wished to dismiss their tribunal-appointed defence attorneys and plead guilty to the terror charges.

When asked by the judge if he was prepared to enter pleas on Monday to all the charges should the commission allow the defendants to withdraw their motions, Khalid Sheikh said: “Yes, surely. We don’t want to waste time.” He appeared before the court dressed in white and wearing a white turban, with a long grey and black beard.

“I don’t appreciate between the judge and my attorney and (US President George W.) Bush and the CIA who tortured me,” he said, adding that he also did not trust Col Henley.

Khalid Sheikh, captured in Pakistan in 2003 and handed over to US agents who held him in secret prisons for over three years before sending him to the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, is known to have been subjected to harsh treatment by the CIA, including “water boarding,” or simulated drowning, leading to controversy about the admissibility of his reported confession.

The judge also allowed defendants Walid bin Attash and Ali Abdul Aziz Ali to withdraw all their motions and go to pleas, but refused to allow the same for two other defendants on concerns they were not mentally competent.

“The law compels me to order some additional testing” on the mental competency of Mustafa Al Hawsawi,” he said after the defendant’s US-appointed lawyer requested a medical evaluation.

“Once that testing is completed, we may be able to proceed with your request to represent yourself, withdraw all motions and enter pleas to the charges.”

The fifth defendant, Ramzi bin Al Shibh, had also requested to waive all his motions and go straight to the plea phase but had his request refused, pending a mental competency evaluation.

The five — all formally charged in June —were watched at the tribunal proceedings by five relatives of those killed on 9/11.—AFP