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United States v. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, et al. is the Guantanamo military commission trial of the five alleged principals in the September 11, 2001 attacks. They are alleged Al-Qaeda members as well.

The five men ultimately charged are Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Walid bin Attash, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, Ammar al-Baluchi, and Mustafa Ahmad al Hawsawi.

Charges

The five men are charged under the military commission system, as established by Congress under the Military Commissions Act of 2006. The charges, which were brought in 2011, are the following: attacking civilians, attacking civilian objects, intentionally causing serious bodily injury, murder in violation of the law of war, destruction of property in violation of the law of war, hijacking or hazarding a vessel or aircraft, terrorism, and providing material support for terrorism. If convicted, the five will face the possibility of the death penalty.

The murder charge involves 2,973 individual counts of murder – one for each person killed in the 9/11 attacks.

The U.S. government is seeking the death penalty against each of the men.

The trial in a military commission (2008-20011)

On February 11, 2008, at a Pentagon press briefing, original charges were announced by Brigadier General Thomas W. Hartmann, U.S. Air Force, against six accused. By the time charges were "referred" (the military procedural equivalent of an indictment) in May 2008, there were only five accused. Later, it was revealed that the military commission Convening Authority (Susan Crawford, at the time) who referred the charges had seen evidence that the additional detainee originally charged, Mohammed al-Qhatani, had been tortured in military custody. Ms. Crawford determined that, as a result, he could not be prosecuted.

The trial was first presided over by military judge Colonel Ralph Kohlmann, U.S. Marine Corps. The trial began in June 5, 2008, with the arraignment. Court personnel, prosecutors, defense attorneys, victims and family members of victims, as well as members of the press and non-governmental organizations, all traveled to Guantanamo Naval Station for the arraignment.

The U.S. Department of Defense has built a $12 million "Expeditionary Legal Complex" in Guantánamo with a courtroom designed to protect classified information, and capable of trying the alleged co-conspirators before one judge and jury. Only members of the defense teams of each of the five defendants, the prosecution team, court staff, and jury members may enter the courtroom itself. Media and other observers may watch unclassified proceedings only, sequestered in a room behind thick glass, located at the back of the large court facility. The sound from the courtroom to the spectator gallery is delayed 40 seconds, to allow the judge or court security officer to cut the sound feed, when necessary to protect classified information.

The death penalty against any of the men requires the unanimous agreement of the members of the commission to impose death on that specific accused. Members of a military commission must all be active duty U.S. military officers.

The Pentagon insisted that Mohammed and the other defendants would receive a fair trial, with rights "virtually identical" to U.S. military service personnel. However, there are some differences between U.S. courts-martial and military commissions.

At the June 2008 arraignment, Khalid Sheikh Mohammad asked to represent himself, rejecting his court-appointed military attorneys and a pro bono civilian attorney. The other accused took a similar position. Mr. Mohammad's pro bono attorney, David Nevin, later told the Associated Press that he would attempt to meet with Mohammad to "hear him out and see if we can give him information that is helpful".

Mohammad was careful not to interrupt Kohlmann. He chastised the judge after the latter ordered several defense attorneys to keep quiet: Mohammed said in broken English, his voice rising "It's an inquisition. It's not a trial. After torturing they transfer us to inquisition-land in Guantanamo."

He explained he believes only in religious Sharia law and railed against U.S. President George W. Bush for waging a "crusade war". When the judge warned Mohammed that he faces execution if convicted of organizing the attacks on America, Mohammed said he welcomes the death penalty. "Yes, this is what I wish, to be a martyr for a long time", Mohammed declared. "I will, God willing, have this, by you."

A sound feed to journalists from the courtroom was turned off twice.

The sound was also turned off when another defendant discussed early days of his imprisonment. Judge Ralph Kohlmannsaid that in both cases sound was turned off because classified information was discussed.

On September 23, 2008, in the voir dire process, Mohammed questioned the judge on his potential bias at trial. "Glaring and poking an occasional finger in the air", Mohammed told Kohlmann, "The government considers all of us fanatical extremists", and asked, "How can you, as an officer of the U.S. Marine Corps, stand over me in judgment?" Insisting that he was attempting to work out if Kohlmann was a religious extremist, he continued: "[President] Bush said this is a crusader war and Osama bin Laden said this is a holy war against the crusades. If you were part of Jerry Falwell or Pat Robertson's group, then you would not be impartial."

For his part, Kohlmann attempted to maintain his dignity, explaining that he was currently unaffiliated with a church "because I've moved so often". He added that he had previously worshipped at "various Lutheran churches and Episcopal churches".

Mohammed then proceeded to ask Kohlmann about his views on torture. As part of the background materials supplied to him – or made available to the civilian lawyers who are voluntarily assisting him in his defense – he referred to an ethics seminar that Kohlmann had conducted at his daughter's high school in 2005, in which the students had been asked to consider their responses to a "Ticking Time Bomb" scenario. Based on a fictional proposition that a bomb is about to go off, and an unwilling captive knows its location but is unwilling to disclose the information, the scenario is widely used by proponents of "enhanced interrogation techniques" to justify the use of torture.

Kohlmann explained that he encouraged the debate as part of "a complex question that might be dealt with differently if someone were specifically trying to save the nation or just looking at it from an ethical sense or just looking at it from a legal sense", and dismissed a combative question from Mohammed – "It seems that you are supportive of the use of torture for national security?" – by stating, "I have no idea where that would come from."

On October 12, 2008, Kohlmann ruled that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and his four co-charged, should be provided with laptops, so they can work on their defenses.

Human rights groups, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Center for Constitutional Rights, and certain U.S. military lawyers have criticised the military commissions for lacking necessary rights for a fair trial. Critics generally argue for a trial either in a federal district court as a common criminal suspect, or by court-martial as a prisoner under the Geneva Conventions which prohibit civilian trials for prisoners of war.