Khalid Sheikh Mohammed said today he would welcome the death penalty for his confessed role as mastermind of the September 11 attacks.

Al-Qaeda’s former number 3 and four co-conspirators heard the charges against them today before a war crimes tribunal at Guantanamo Bay, seven years after the World Trade Centre was attacked.

“Yes, this is what I wish, to be a martyr for a long time,” said Mohammed. “I will, God willing, have this by you.”

All five men face death if convicted of war crimes including murder, conspiracy, attacking civilians and terrorism by hijacking planes to attack US landmarks. The murder charges involve the deaths of 2,973 people at the World Trade Center, Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania where passengers forced down their plane.

Mohammed stroked a bushy grey beard as he spoke, occasionally lifting his glasses onto his turban to peruse legal papers. He grinned to exchange words with a fellow defendant Waleed bin Attash, who allegedly selected and trained some of 9/11’s 19 plane hijackers.

Attash echoed Mohammed's sentiments shortly afterwards, saying he also wanted to die at the hands of the Americans. “You killed my brother who was younger than me during the war, and this is my wish to be in your hands," he said, after dismissing his legal team.

“I don’t want anybody to represent me, I will represent myself. I am a Muslim and I reject this session. The lawyers will stay here and be available to help me if I need, but I will represent myself."

The case is complicated by the fact it is appearing before a military tribunal. US military commissions have been used since the end of the Revolutionary War but never while a conflict remained ongoing, according to Air Force Brigadier General Tom Hartmann, a senior tribune official.

In 2006 the US Supreme Court declared the commission unconstitutional, but Congress later altered and resurrected them. They continue to be blighted by confusion over courtroom rules as well as by delays and claims of unconstitutionality.

The Supreme Court is to rule this month on the rights of Guantanamo prisoners, potentially delaying or halting the proceedings.

Attash’s case has also been called into question, especially since the Bush administration acknowledged in February that waterboarding had been used to obtain evidence, which involves covering the interviewee’s face with a flannel and showering water down it in order to create a sensation similar to drowning.

Mohammed’s defence team argue he may have suffered cognitive impairment as a result of harsh interrogation techniques he suffered while in CIA custody.

Mohammed was first captured in Pakistan in 2003. He spent the next three years being moved between secret CIA locations before arriving in Guantanamo in 2006, where even the location of his cell remains a secret.

The military expects the arraignment of the five to last just one day.

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