Legal News

An Artistic Nose Job For Khalid Sheikh Mohammed?

By Ashby Jones

WSJ Supreme Court reporter Jess Bravin, who is filing from Guantanamo Bay this week, sent along this dispatch. Click here for his WSJ story today, on the appearance of Khalid Sheik Mohammed and four other alleged Sept. 11 conspirators in front of a Gitmo military judge.

A closeup of the new, improved Khalid Sheikh Mohammed sketch, with the more flattering nose he suggested be modeled on a shot the FBI issued after his capture. (Credit: Jess Bravin)

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba–Khalid Sheikh Mohammed may welcome martyrdom for his cause, but the alleged architect of the 9/11 attacks won’t stand for an unflattering picture.

At a break during pretrial proceedings here Thursday, a security official passed by the defense table and gave some defendants a glance at a courtroom artist’s sketch of the morning’s proceedings.

Mohammed, once a big shot in al Qaeda, pronounced one sketch acceptable. But the second—a close up of him and co-defendant Walid bin Attash—got his nose completely wrong, Mohammed declared. As a guide, the artist should use the FBI photo taken upon his 2003 capture in Pakistan, the alleged terrorist mastermind helpfully suggested.

A security official relayed the discussion to the artist, Janet Hamlin, who quickly obliged the self-proclaimed mass-murderer, one of three prisoners CIA agents subjected to waterboarding, an interrogation technique many consider torture.

“I’ll concede that the nose wasn’t flattering, said Hamlin, a veteran artist who has drawn dozens of trials and illustrated nearly 20 children’s books. She pulled out her pastels and worked over Mohammed’s proboscis. “I shortened it and slimmed it down.”

Courtroom artist Janet Hamlin displays the illustration she redrew at the request of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, accused architect of the 9/11 attacks, facing capital charges at Guantanamo Bay. (Credit: Jess Bravin)

In contrast, Attash, accused of running the al Qaeda camp where 9/11 hijackers trained, was delighted with his depiction, Ms. Hamlin says the security official told her.

“Oh, look, that’s me! That’s great,” Attash said, Hamlin relayed.

A military spokesman, apparently accustomed to criticism about the treatment of prisoners here, said the attention to Mohammed’s feelings demonstrated the humane nature of the Guantanamo detentions.

While the Pentagon may be seeking to put Mr. Mohammed and his co-defendants to death, “we go to great lengths to take the detainees desires into consideration,” Cmdr. J.D. Gordon said.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on June 06, 2008 (boomark / email).