Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind behind the terrorist attacks from September 11 along with four other essential suspects is appearing before a military judge, making his first court appearance.

According to The Associated Press, Marine Col. Ralph Kohlmann said that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the four alleged suspects linked to al-Qaeda were at the defense tables with their lawyers.

Apparently Mohammed, who made his first public appearance since his capture in 2003, didn’t want to be defended by his lawyer, telling the court that he wanted the death sentence in order to become a martyr.

The five suspects were dressed in tunic and turbans. Mohammed faces death sentence if found guilty. He has been described his as “one of history's most infamous terrorists,” reported BBC News.

After he was arrested, the CIA took him in a secret location and in 2006 they transported him to the U.S. Navy base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He allegedly admitted to have been involved in the 11 September 2001 attacks and in other 30 terrorist attacks around the world.

The other four suspects present at the military court were: Ramzi Binalshibh, Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi, Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, Walid Bin Attash.

The charges against them include 2,973 individual counts of murder.

Journalists were not allowed in the court room but they could watch the proceedings on closed-circuit TV.

Although U.S. authorities want to make sure that the trial is fair, there are some who say this is not possible.

Jennifer Daskal, a lawyer for Human Rights Watch, an organization from New York, said that torturing suspects by using different procedures like water-boarding was not the solution.

The U.S supreme court is to decide on the rights of the prisoners from Guantanamo Bay.