Washington - Military prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty in military commission trials against six Guantanamo Bay prisoners suspected of involvement in the September 11 attacks, The New York Times reported Monday. Citing unnamed government officials familiar with the case but not authorized to discuss the charges, the newspaper reported that capital charges could be announced as early Monday against the reputed planner and coordinator of the 2001 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
Mohammed was operations chief for Osama bin Laden's terrorist network, al-Qaeda, before being captured in Pakistan. CIA Director Michael Hayden said last week that Mohammed was one of three high- value al-Qaeda prisoners subjected to water-boarding, or simulated drowning, during interrogations by the US intelligence agency.
The Times identified the other five prisoners as Mohammed al- Qahtani, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, Mustafa Ahmed al- Hawsawi and Walid bin Attash.
Nearly 3,000 people died in the 9/11 suicide hijackings against New York and Washington.
The military commission system established to try some of the prisoners held at Guantanamo has yet to take any cases to trial.
A military official will still have to weigh whether to approve the expected request to seek the death penalty by a team of military and civilian prosecutors.
Any schedule for trials remains unclear.
