American female defence lawyer wears Islamic hijab to hearing of 9/11 case

Washington, May 7 (ANI): An American female defence attorney, not a Muslim, dressed up in traditional Islamic hijab for the hearing of five Guantanamo Bay prisoners accused of the September 11 attacks in military court.

Cherly Bormann, who represents Walid bin Attash, said her client had asked her to wear the dress.

Bormann also said that she always wore the hijab around her client, insisting that all women should wear the attire to show respect to the religion.

She asked other women to wear the Muslim dress so that the defendants do not have to avert their eyes 'for fear of committing a sin under their faith', The Daily Mail reports.

The five accused have been charged with stemming the 2001 attacks that killed 2,976 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

All five men refused to participate in the hearing. They knelt down in prayer, ignored the judge and did not listen to Arabic translations as they confronted nearly 3,000 counts of murder.

The behaviour of the defendants outraged the families of the 9/11 attack who were watching the proceeding on closed-circuit video feeds around the United States at East Coast military bases.

The Obama administration had renewed plans to carry out proceedings against the men at the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay after a bid to try the men in New York City blocks from the trade center site faced political opposition. (ANI)