New court sketches have emerged showing the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 terror attacks Khalid Sheikh Mohammed sporting a henna-dyed beard and excitedly chatting with his four co-defendants during their first pre-trial hearing at Guantanamo Bay in 18 months.
Mohammed, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin Attash, Ramzi Bin al-Shibh, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi smiled during what has been described as a 'reunion' of sorts for the terror suspects as they appeared in court Tuesday on charges of plotting and executing the September 11, 2001, attacks that killed 2,977 people.
The trial for the quintet of suspects has resumed just days before the 20th anniversary of 9/11, as two more victims of the attacks in New York City have been identified through DNA analysis of remains.
All five suspects face the death penalty if convicted of capital charges which include: terrorism; hijacking aircraft; conspiracy; murder in violation of the law of war; attacking civilians; attacking civilian objects; intentionally causing serious bodily injury; and destruction of property in violation of the law of war.
CBS reporter Catherine Herridge, who observed the proceedings along with other journalists from behind reinforced glass, described Mohammed as looking older and thinner, with a long gray beard tinted orange.
As the lead defendant, Mohammed sat closest to the military judge, with his co-defendants sitting behind him.
Mohammed wore a Pashtun-style hat and a navy-blue scarf draped over his head and shoulders.
'As they got settled, it had the atmosphere of a long-awaited reunion, with some smiling, talking and gesturing to each other,' the reporter observed.
The detainees engaged in animated conversation with one another throughout the two-and-a-half-hour hearing and during two courtroom recesses. Mohammed was seen chatting with Bin Attash, who sat behind him.
Mohammed waved at two reporters sitting in the gallery on his way out of the courtroom during the first recess.
Attorney James Connell, who represents Ali, told CNN his client, who is Mohammed's nephew, was happy to be out of lockdown and see familiar faces for the first time in months.
'The man has been in lockdown for as long as everyone else has been in lockdown, and to see people that he hasn't, his legal team that he hasn't seen in a long time is a cause for pleasure,' Connell said. 'He's pleased to be back in court, he's pleased to see the case move forward, and he's pleased to see his legal team after a long isolation related to COVID.'
It marks the first time the five suspects have appeared for the military tribunal since early 2019 following numerous delays in the pursuit of justice - most recently caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The timing is especially poignant with Saturday marking 20 years to the day that al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four airplanes and carried out coordinated attacks across the US.
The trial for the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 terror attacks Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (pictured) and four other alleged co-conspirators resumed today at Guantanamo Bay
Two of the planes were flown into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, a third into the Pentagon and a fourth crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
The anniversary comes just weeks on from the US's chaotic withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan last month which saw the Taliban regain control of the country and 13 American troops killed in a suicide attack in Kabul.
President Joe Biden also signed an executive order Friday ordering a review of the classified documents related to the 9/11 terror attacks after victims' family members and survivors told him to stay away from the anniversary events unless he declassified documents potentially showing Saudi government ties to the hijackers.
Ramzi Bin al-Shibh (left) and Ali Abdul Aziz Ali (right) are both accused of involvement in the 9/11 attacks
Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin 'Attash (left) is accused of training the hijackers to fight, while Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi, now 53, from Saudi Arabia, is accused of giving financial backing to the group
The pre-trial hearings are taking place at the Expeditionary Legal Complex (ELC) at Camp Justice, an ultra-secure military commissions courtroom surrounded by fences of razor wire which was specifically built for the trial of 9/11 suspects.
They will run from Tuesday through Friday, before resuming Monday through September 17.
The first week of hearings is expected to focus on whether the prosecution or defense have any objection to Judge Col. Matthew McCall presiding over the trial.
Additional pretrial hearings are then expected to be held in November, followed by jury selection of 12 military officers in 2022 at the soonest.
Tuesday's proceedings were attended by a group of reporters, victims' family members and survivors.
The five suspects each entered the courtroom one by one, accompanied by military escorts, and sat at separate tables with their defense teams.
Mohammed, who allegedly came up with the idea for the attacks and took it al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, strode easily into the courtroom at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Tuesday morning sporting a dense, graying red beard, blue turban and matching face mask.
He chatted animatedly with bin Attash while leafing through a pile of documents.
Bin Attash, who allegedly helped plan the 9/11 attacks, wore a pink keffiyeh headdress and a military desert camouflage jacket, walking slowly with a prosthetic on one leg he lost in a firefight in Afghanistan in 1996.
Al-Shibh, a member of the 'Hamburg Cell' of hijackers, also wore desert camouflage over his white cotton pants, seemingly to reflect his days as an al-Qaeda jihadist.
Ali, the nephew of Mohammed also known as Ammar al-Baluchi, revealed a short, black beard under his mask and wore a Sindhi cap of his native Balochistan, along with a traditional vest over his white robe.
Hawsawi entered in a Saudi thobe-style white robe and carrying a pillow which he placed on the hospital chair reserved for him, due to rectal damage his lawyers say was incurred in the abusive interrogations by the CIA.
Air Force Colonel Matthew McCall is presiding over the five suspects' pre-trial hearings.
He is the eighth military judge to sit on the case and the fourth during the pretrial proceedings.
The hearing opened with the judge asking each of the defendants if they understood the guidelines for the hearing.
Each answered yes, some in English and some in their own languages.
McCall then spoke about COVID-19 protocols for the hearing, saying everyone should wear a mask unless addressing the court.
Defense attorneys said they were eager to continue where they stopped in February 2019, building a case to discredit the bulk of the prosecution's evidence due to the torture they endured by the CIA.
The September 11 2001 terrorist attacks killed 2,977 people including 2,753 people in New York
Proceedings then began with an initial hearing focused on the judge's own qualifications to hear the case.
Lawyers for both sides are allowed
