Alleged Sept. 11 Financier Tells Tribunal He Knew Little of Plot

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He went on to say that he has never taken an oath to be a jihadist, nor has he sworn allegiance to Osama bin Laden, whom he said he has met four or five times, according to the transcript.

Hawsawi admitted being close to Mohammed and told the tribunal that he was captured at the same time as Mohammed, in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, in March 2003.

The only substantive part of the transcript that is redacted appears to relate to their capture.

Also on Thursday, the chief prosecutor for military commissions here, Air Force Col. Morris Davis, said his team has been meeting with the defense attorney for Hicks in preparation for hearings Friday and Saturday that probably will determine a sentence for Hicks for allegedly providing support for terrorism. Hicks entered a guilty plea on Monday, and the presiding officer has yet to accept it.

Davis said prosecutors are going to argue for "something substantially lower" than the 20-year sentence given to American John Walker Lindh on terrorism charges, describing Hicks as "wrongful, but not at the top of the pyramid." Hicks is likely to be sentenced by the end of the week.

Hicks's father has said that he pleaded guilty simply as a way to end his five-year incarceration.

Staff writer Ann Scott Tyson and staff researcher Julie Tate in Washington contributed to this report.

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