Associated Press
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged Sept. 11 mastermind, is seen shortly after his capture in Pakistan in this photo taken on March 1, 2003.
By NBC News staff and wire reports
The man accused of masterminding the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, resulting in the deaths of 2,976 people, appeared before a military judge at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba on Monday after months of delays due to scheduling conflicts, religious observances, an Internet outage and a tropical storm.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed appeared before Judge Army Col. James Pohl for the start of a week of pretrial hearings, along with co-defendents Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, a Pakistani; Mustafa Al Hawsawi, a Saudi; and Walid Bin Attash and Ramzi Binalshibh, two men from Yemen.
The men, being prosecuted in a special military tribunal for war-time offenses, are charged with conspiring with al-Qaida, attacking civilians and civilian targets, murder in violation of the laws of war, destruction of property, hijacking and terrorism. All five could face the death penalty if convicted.
The families of people killed in the Sept. 11 attacks were invited to military installations in New Jersey,?Massachusetts, Maryland and New York City?to watch the pretrial hearings?on closed-circuit television, NBCNewYork.com reported.
Monday?s hearings were expected to focus on secrecy issues during the trial.
Despite President Obama's vow to shut down Guantanamo Bay, the nation's most expensive prison is undergoing some costly new updates that would allow the facility to remain open for years. NBC's Michael Isikoff reports.
Defense attorneys want to abolish a "presumptive classification" process that treats any discussion of what happened to the defendants during their interrogation in CIA prisons before they were transferred to Guantanamo as a top secret.
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Judge Pohl was also expected to hear requests from news organizations on limiting closed courtrooms for secret sessions and be asked to decide whether the U.S. Constitution governs tribunals held at the U.S. base in Cuba.
The five men were arraigned May 5, but subsequent hearings have been pushed back.
John Moore / Getty Images
President Obama's one-year deadline to close the facility has long passed as shutting it down has proven complicated and controversial.
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A hearing in July was postponed to allow the defendants to observe the holy month of Ramadan. Hearings in August were delayed when an Internet outage left the lawyers unable to access their electronic legal documents. That hearing was later canceled altogether as Tropical Storm Isaac approached. The storm caused no damage to the base.
A hearing scheduled for late September was also delayed because the work space for the defense lawyers was shut down due to a rat infestation and mold, which lawyers claimed were making them sick, Reuters reported.
Pohl ruled on Oct. 5 there would be no further postponements to the trial.laws of war, destruction of property, hijacking and terrorism.
Reuters contributed to this report.?
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