Trial of acknowledged 9/11 mastermind to resume

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- The Pentagon said yesterday it is ready to resume a trial at Guantánamo Bay for the acknowledged mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2011, attacks and four other men, more than two years after President Barack Obama halted the case in an ultimately failed effort to prosecute them in a civilian court.

The five include Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who admitted during a military hearing to being the "mastermind" of the terrorist attacks.

A Department of Defense legal official has approved trying the five together on capital charges that include terrorism and murder, making them eligible for the death penalty, if convicted. They are expected to be arraigned in May before a military judge at the U.S. base in Cuba.

Prosecutors had filed the charges last May with little doubt the case would be referred to a military tribunal for trial. But lawyers had hoped two of the men would be tried separately on noncapital charges because they are accused of minor roles in the plot.

Mohammed had said at the start of his first trial that he intended to plead guilty, and his four co-defendants indicated they would abandon their defense as well. But after a series of pretrial hearings the case was put on hold when the administration decided it wanted to try them in civilian court in the United States. -- AP