A UNC Chapel Hill graduate who police say drove an SUV into a crowd of students said his trial will offer a lesson on the will of Allah

Sharif Durhams:

An Orange County district court judge formally set Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar's bail at $5.5 million and scheduled a hearing for March 16.

The December 2005 UNC graduate and former Charlotte resident told Judge Patricia Devine he would represent himself. He tried to silence a public defender the judge appointed to help him.

"Allah is my lawyer," Taheri-azar, 22, told reporters and hecklers outside the county courthouse as sheriff's deputies put him in a car to return him to Raleigh's Central Prison.

Taheri-azar's court appearance was his first since the incident that injured nine students at an outdoor campus hub called The Pit. Taheri-azar, who was born in Iran but attended South Mecklenburg High School, drove a rented Jeep Cherokee into a lunchtime crowd Friday, police said.

Six victims were treated at a Chapel Hill hospital for minor injuries; three others declined care.

Also Monday, the university released a recording of the call to 911 that came minutes after the incident, in which the caller identified himself as Taheri-azar and surrendered. The caller told an Orange County dispatcher he wanted to "punish the government of the United States for their actions around the world."

The caller also told the dispatcher he'd left a letter in his nearby Carrboro apartment explaining his grievances. Police searched the apartment Friday, but declined to say what they found.

On Monday, Taheri-azar spent about 10 minutes in the Hillsborough courtroom, about 12 miles from the Chapel Hill campus.

He waved at television cameras on the way into the courthouse and smiled as he was led before Devine. Taheri-azar was clad in an orange jumpsuit and his legs were shackled.

He answered "yes, ma'am" to most of Devine's questions and sat silently while Orange County District Attorney Jim Woodall read the charges -- nine counts of attempted murder and nine counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill.

Devine then asked if Taheri-azar had any questions.

"I actually don't have any questions," said the prisoner. "I'm thankful you're here to give me this trial and to learn more about the will of Allah, the creator."

In Chapel Hill, a handful of UNC students held a campus rally at The Pit, calling on school administrators to declare the incident a terrorist attack. Critics said such language would just worsen relations between Muslim and Christian students, which already have been strained this year.

In a statement released Sunday, Chancellor James Moeser described the incident as a "contemptible act of violence."

"It's important to call it terrorism because it's an attack on the American people," said Amanda Zalaquett, 19, a sophomore from Charlotte. She and others passed out U.S. flags and held up signs at the rally that read, "Call It What It Is" and "United We Stand."

SUV Attack Prompts Debate Over 'Terrorism' and Islam

Driver at UNC Cites Vengeance for Muslims

Can We Call This Terrorism Yet?

TAR HEEL TERRORIST: ALLAH'S WILL

Apologist for Taliban should be kicked out of Yale