The alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks on the US is appearing at a military tribunal in Guantanamo Bay.

It is the first time Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has appeared in public since he was captured in Pakistan in 2003.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against him and four others accused of plotting the attacks - who also appeared before the tribunal.

A BBC correspondent at the trial says the hearings raise questions about the legitimacy of US military commissions.

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The US describes Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, believed to have been al-Qaeda's third in command, as "one of history's most infamous terrorists".

Waterboarding

Following his arrest he was held at a CIA secret prison, where he was subjected to harsh interrogation techniques and a practice known as waterboarding, that simulates drowning, until he was moved to Guantanamo Bay two years ago.

The US military says that as well as admitting involvement in the 11 September 2001 attacks on Washington and New York, he has confessed to being involved in more than 30 terrorist plots around the world, including plans to attack London's Big Ben and Canary Wharf.

He is one of five so called "high value detainees" appearing before Judge Ralph Kohlmann, a Marine colonel presiding over the hearing.

The other suspects are:

• Ramzi Binalshibh, a Yemeni man described by the US as the co-ordinator of the 9/11 attacks, who, according to intelligence officials, was supposed to be one of the hijackers, but was unable to get a US visa
• Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi, a Saudi man said by US intelligence officials to be one of two key financial people used by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to arrange the funding for the 11 September hijackings
• Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, also known as Amar al-Balochi, who is accused of serving as a key lieutenant to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed - his uncle - during the 11 September plot
• Walid Bin Attash, a Yemeni national who, according to the Pentagon, has admitted masterminding the bombing of the American destroyer, USS Cole, in Yemen in 2000, which killed 17 sailors, and is who is accused of involvement in the 11 September 2001 attacks

The charges against them list "169 overt acts allegedly committed by the defendants in furtherance of the September 11 events".

The charges, which include 2,973 individual counts of murder - one for each person killed in the 9/11 attacks - are the first directly related to the 9/11 attacks to be brought against any Guantanamo inmates.

The five are among 19 prisoners due to face the military tribunals, which were set up in the wake of 9/11 to try non-American prisoners who have been classed as "enemy combatants" by the White House and therefore deemed to not be entitled to the legal rights normally afforded to prisoners.

Justice in the dock

The trials have already raised questions about not just the treatment of detainees, but also the legitimacy of American military commissions.

The BBC's Jonathan Beale - one of 60 journalists attending the trial - says these trials will be as much a test case as a showcase of military justice.

The US authorities say they have bent over backwards to make sure that the trials are fair but some of its own lawyers have already condemned the process as fundamentally flawed.

US air force Brigadier General Tom Hartmann told the Associated Press news agency that the tribunals would allow the detainees the chance of a proper hearing.

"In the course of trial they'll have opportunity to present their case, any way they want to present it, subject to rules and procedures," he said. "That's a great freedom and a great protection we are providing to them. We think... it is the American way."

"We are not Guantanamo, we are not Camp X-Ray, we are not Abu Ghraib," Brig Gen Hartmann added. "We are the military commissions, uniformed officers on the prosecution and the defence, with established court procedures."

Human Rights Watch, a New York-based organisation, has said that the system lacks credibility.

"Possibly putting someone to death based on evidence obtained through water-boarding, or after prolonged periods of sleep deprivation while being forced into painful stress positions, is not the answer," said Jennifer Daskal, a lawyer for the group.

Later this month the US Supreme Court is to rule on the rights of prisoners being held at Guantanamo Bay, threatening a possible delay or even halt to the proceedings.

The court ruled in 2006 that an earlier tribunal system was unconstitutional.

Relatives of those killed on 11 September had wanted to attend the trial, but the military decided that it could not accommodate them at Guantanamo Bay.

Much of the complex built for the trial, known as Camp Justice, consists of tents erected on an abandoned runway at the base.

Instead family members will be able to watch the proceedings at other US military bases via closed circuit TV.

Sixty US and international journalists have flown to Guantanamo Bay to witness the opening of the trial.

(BBC)

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