NEW YORK - A judge rejected a guilty plea of a defendant in the U.S. embassy bombings case after the man said he was innocent but wanted to plead guilty to avoid the humiliation of a lengthy trial.
Wadih El Hage is one of 17 people charged in the 1998 bombings on U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which killed 224 people, including two Americans. Eight of those indicted are fugitives.
U.S. District Judge Leonard Sand asked El Hage on Tuesday if he offered to plead guilty because he believed he is guilty. El Hage replied, ''No, some other legitimate reasons.''
El Hage, charged with conspiracy, said he saw no chance to win the case and dreaded daily trips to court, stints in cold holding cells and regular strip searches.
Prosecutors refer to El Hage, 40, as an associate and former personal secretary of Osama bin Laden, the Saudi millionaire accused of masterminding the attacks.
Prosecutors, surprised by the attempted guilty plea, told the judge that El Hage had made no plea bargain and had reached no agreement with the government. One of El Hage's lawyers said he had advised his client against the move. Had his plea been accepted, he would have faced life in prison without possibility of parole.
El Hage, who was arrested two years ago, is scheduled to go to trial in January with four co-defendants.
A sixth defendant, Ali Mohamed, a former Army sergeant, admitted to being a bin Laden aide and pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges on Friday. Mohamed, a U.S. citizen born in Egypt, was the first defendant to plead guilty.
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