US files new charges against 9/11 accused

MIAMI: US military prosecutors had filed new charges against the self-described mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and four alleged co-conspirators held at the Guantanamo detention camp.

The conspiracy and mass murder charges were expected to be announced later on Tuesday, sources involved in the Guantanamo tribunals said.

All five defendants had previously been charged in the war crimes tribunals at the Guantanamo Bay U.S. naval base in Cuba with plotting the hijacked plane attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.

The charges, which carried the death penalty, were dropped while the Obama administration tried to move the trials into the federal civilian courts.

President Barack Obama yielded to political pressure in April and had announced that the prosecutions would be moved back to Guantanamo.