According to reports new pre trial proceedings are due to begin for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Ramzi bin al Shibh, Mustafa Ahmad al Hawsawi, Ali Abdel Azis Ali and Walid bin Attash accused in connection with the September 11 attacks.
Reportedly the trial which began in 2008 was announced following new legislation that authorised a military hearing. The first judge was a brigadier general of the marine corps. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed complained that it was not a trial, it was an inquisition. The defence brought up a high school ethics class conducted by the brigadier debating torture.
Reportedly Mr Mohammed was arrested in Pakistan in 2003 as a result of intelligence reports and confessed to the fbi that he masterminded the 9/11 attacks, the murder of Daniel Pearl, a journalist for the Wall Street journal and the 1993 world trade centre bombing. A cia officer was said to have cautioned that much of what he said was to terminate daily interrogations. In 2006 and 2008 he was called as a witness in other trials.
Reportedly the prosecution claimed Walid bin Atash aided in the preparation of the east Africa u.s. embassy bombings of 1998, the u.s. Cole bombing of 2000 and was previously a bodyguard for Osama bin Laden. He was formally charged with selecting and helping to train several of the September 11 hijackers.
According to reports, u.s. officials claimed Ali Abdel Azis Ali was a lieutenant who assisted his uncle Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in executing the 9/11 attacks. Mustafa Ahmad al Hawsawi was reportedly charged with being involved in the planning and execution of the 9/11 attacks. Ramzi bin al Shibh was said to have tried to enrol in a Florida flight school. According to a report he was believed to be a missing fifth member of the hijacking team on the fourth plane that crashed, and was suspected of planning other suicide attacks.
According to reports the five defendants have been detained in Guantanamo, Cuba for nearly 15 years.