A week of hearings at a military court in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba made slow headway towards a trial of five men accused of orchestrating the 9-11 terror attacks on the United States, ending Friday with few rulings on two dozen pretrial motions. 

On the final day of hearings none of the five accused men came to court, all opting to stay behind in their prison cells.

Army Col. Judge James Pohl heard several more hours of arguments on the issue of a gag order that prohibits any talk about the interrogations that the men were subjected to at secret CIA prison sites prior to their tranfer to Guantanamo Bay in 2006.  

The judge will likely issue a written decision on whether the defendants' memories of the events are in fact classified, as the protective order now states.

---

Judge Pohl did not rule on the other interesting motion discussed Friday — one that the Judge nicknamed "The C-SPAN Issue." The defense teams have requested that the trial be open to public television so the world can see the proceedings.

The defense argues that opening the trial to the public is necessary to prevent the appearance of an unfair trial.

The judge challenged that idea, arguing that by that logic every accused person in federal court cannot get a fair trial because it's not televised. He added that trials are not open to cameras in the military system either.

This case is different, defense attorney Marine Major William Hennessy argued.

Pohl countered by asking whether he should conclude that the lack of public television means that an accused person is not getting a fair trial.

"Yes, sir," Hennessy replied.

A prosecution attorney disagreed, saying that the First Amendment right to public access is not absolute, and that opening the trial to television cameras compromises the security of the trial participants.

Earlier in the week, self-professed mastermind of the attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was granted an opportunity for a brief airing of his views of the proceedings.

Wearing a camoflage vest over his traditional robes Mohammed condemned what he called prosecutors "elastic" use of national security to justify its actions.

"The government uses national security as it chooses," the Arabic-speaking Mohammed said through a translator while seated at a defense table. "Many can kill people under the name of national security and torture people in the name of national security."

Mohammed and four alleged co-conspirators are accused of planning and providing logistical support for the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks by hijackers who crashed planes into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania, killing nearly 3,000 people.

If convicted they could face the death penalty, but the trial is many months away.

Pohl set the next motions hearings for Dec. 3-7, putting the attorneys on notice that they should plan to set aside at least one week, every other month.

More world stories from NBC News:

• Self-professed Sept. 11 mastermind Mohammed airs his views at Gitmo hearing
• British government to recruit teens as next generation of spies
• Doctors: Girl shot by Taliban able to stand, communicate
• U.S. nonprofit 'names and shames' businesses to put bite into Iran sanctions
• Van full of bodies stolen during drivers' break in Germany
• Revolt of the underclass in Syria

Follow World News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

The self-professed mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks showed up to court in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on Wednesday wearing a camouflage vest after a judge ruled that the military-style garment would not disrupt the proceedings.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was using his attire to make a political statement, which he coupled with a monologue late in the day’s proceedings to condemn what he called prosecutors "elastic" use of national security to justify its actions.

"The government uses national security as it chooses," the Arabic-speaking Mohammed said through a translator while seated at a defense table. "Many can kill people under the name of national security and torture people in the name of national security."

---

Mohammed was appearing before the military commission for the third day of hearings that will set the ground rules for the trial of the 47-year-old Kuwaiti and four accused co-conspirators accused of planning and aiding hijackers who flew commercial airlines into the World Trade Center towers, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania, killing 2,976 people.

All five defendants are charged with terrorism and murder and could be sentenced to death if convicted. The trial is likely more than a year away.

Fashion statement
Mohammed, who has grown a long beard in detention and dyed it with henna, wore the vest over his traditional white tunic and turban. He and a co-defendant had sought to wear camouflage items at their May 5 arraignment, but that request was denied.

At the time, the commander of the Guantanamo Bay prison said the camouflage might make it harder for the military prison guards to gain control if necessary, suggesting the clothing could create confusion about telling the difference between prisoners and fellow troops.

Earlier coverage of the week's Guantanamo pre-trial hearings:
Tuesday: Hearings for accused Sept. 11 terror planners haggle over rights, secrecy
Monday: 9/11 mastermind, alleged accomplices return to Guantanamo court

In Tuesday’s hearing, Military Judge Army Col. James Pohl dismissed the suggestion that the more than a dozen military members in the courtroom would have any problem distinguishing the bearded defendants. But just to be sure, he specifically prohibited them from wearing any items from U.S. military uniforms.

Mohammed considers himself a prisoner of war and wanted the same right to wear a uniform as the Japanese and German troops prosecuted for war crimes after World War II, according to his lawyers.

Mohammed surprised the courtroom midway through the afternoon by raising his hand to request that the court allow him to make a statement.

Watch World News videos on NBCNews.com 

Judge Pohl said defendants are not generally permitted to comment on proceedings, but then granted his request.

"This is a one-time occurrence," Pohl told the defendant after some some back-and-forth.

"We are all human beings," Mohammed said in his brief monologue. "Your blood is not made out of gold and ours is made out of water."

He said that while Americans were sad that 3,000 people were killed on Sept. 11, the U.S. government has "killed millions of people."

He urged the judge not to be persuaded by the government's "crocodile tears," and he complained that the U.S. president can "legislate" assassinations in the name of protecting Americans.

Battle over secrecy 
Earlier Wednesday, the court resumed hearing arguments on the admissibility of testimony that includes information about the period of detention and harsh interrogation techniques employed at secret CIA prisons, before the men's transfer to Guantanamo Bay in 2006.

The government has already acknowledged some details about the secret prisons, including the fact that Mohammed was subjected to a near-drowning technique called water-boarding 183 times, but prosecutors have said that restrictions are necessary to prevent the release of information that would reveal information about intelligence sources and methods.

ACLU attorney Hina Shamsi picked up where she left off Tuesday when court adjourned, arguing that the detention information should be part of the public record.

Shamsi said the restrictions were overly broad and intended not to protect national security so much as to prevent the public from learning more details about the harsh confinement of the defendants in the CIA's prisons overseas.

Stay informed with the latest headlines; sign up for our newsletter

"We are aware, your honor, of no other protective order that is as radical as what the government is asking you to judicially bless here," Shamsi said.

But government prosecutor Joanna Baltes said the ACLU and other critics of the proposed rules are exaggerating the restrictions. She said the restrictions, known as protective orders, are similar to those in major terrorism cases in civilian courts.

"I think it is a very inflammatory allegation for the ACLU to come in and claim they have never seen anything like this," Baltes said.

The painstaking pre-trial hearings are intended to deal with 25 motions, many of them dealing with security rules and defendants’ rights.

On Monday, the court agreed that the defendants could not be forced to attend the pre-trial hearings.

At Wednesday’s hearings, Mohammed, who was born in Kuwait, and Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, a Pakistani, were the only two of the five who attended. Mustafa Al Hawsawi, a Saudi; and Walid Bin Attash and Ramzi Binalshibh, both from Yemen, sat this one out.

Hearings were slated to continue on Thursday morning.

The Associated Press and NBC News' Courtney Kube and Kari Huus contributed to this report.

More world stories from NBC News:

• 'Spy of the West': Al-Qaida, Taliban struggle to justify attack on Pakistani teen
• UK computer hacker wins 10 year fight against extradition to US
• Algae bloom off Canada tied to company's salmon 'fertilization' test
• Mystery kidney disease decimates Central America sugarcane workers
• Clinton: 'We did everything we could to keep our people safe'
• Demand for palm oil, used in packaged food products, leaves orangutans at risk
• Assad forces using cluster bombs, rights group says

Follow World News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

Follow Kari Huus on Facebook  

The military tribunal of 9/11 terrorism suspect Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four co-conspirators resumed in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba on Tuesday, plunged into arguments over one of the thorniest subjects that the court must iron out before the trial — whether the suspects can talk about their detention and harsh interrogation in secret CIA prisons prior to their transfer to Guantanamo Bay in 2006.

The men are accused of planning and providing logistical support for the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks by hijackers who crashed planes into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania, killing nearly 3,000 people.

Mohammed and the other four who are portrayed as his underlings face charges that include terrorism and murder, and they could be sentenced to death if convicted.

This week’s proceedings hear arguments on 25 pretrial motions dealing mainly with privacy issues and the detainees' rights, and set the ground rules for the trial which is likely at least a year away.

---

Prosecutors have asked the judge to approve what is known as a protective order intended to prevent the release of classified information during trial.

The gag order prohibits mention of what the defendants experienced or learned during their interrogation because the tactics used on them were classified.

The defense argued that the government gave up the right to keep interrogation tactics classified when they exposed the defendants to the process.

They mainly object to one portion of the order, which says that, "Any statements made by the accused are presumptively Classified Information." The defense teams believe that that is too broad a statement, and that there is no such thing as "presumptive classification" — that information is classified or not.

The judge, Army Col. James Pohl, pushed back on their argument, saying that both sides agree with the definition of what is classified and what is not, and that the attorneys are required not to disclose new information they deem could be classified.

"We're not talking about what you had for lunch today," Pohl said.

But an attorney for Ramzi Binalshibh argued that issues just that mundane do become a hindrance, citing an example from defending another detainee.

After several hours of arguments against the protective order, the judge did not rule on the motion to strike the gag order Tuesday.

First Amendment appeal
Instead, Pohl moved on to hear arguments from First Amendment attorney David Schulz, on behalf of 14 U.S. news organizations seeking to report on legal proceedings at Guantanamo — classified information or not. 

Schulz argued that the gag order should be lifted because the information about what happened to the defendants during their interrogations has been widely reported in the media.

"The New York Times is not a classification authority," Pohl shot back, saying that just because something is reported in the news or widely known doesn't mean it's now unclassified.

Schulz argued that the use of the 40-second delay switch also violates the First Amendment, but Pohl dismissed that, as well, saying that the switch can prevent the release of classified information that is inadvertently disclosed.

ACLU attorney Hina Shamsi was next to argue for more open proceedings, saying that when issues such as rendition and torture are under discussion, the public has a right to know about it.

Shamsi added that the public should be able to determine for themselves whether punishment is justified, the decide on the lawfulness of government actions with the defendants, and the overall fairness and legitimacy of these proceedings.

The judge stopped her there, saying the court would recess for the day to respect the defendants right to afternoon prayers.

The court will take up this argument again at 9am Wednesday, when the ACLU attorney will continue her arguments.

Last minute boycott
All five of the men were at Monday’s hearings, but on Tuesday, Mohammed, Saudi defendant Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi and Pakistani national Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali all bowed out. Walid Bin Attash and Ramzi Binalshibh, both from Yemen, did attend.

Mohammed, who has previously claimed he was the mastermind of the terrorist attacks, was taken from his cell at the U.S. base in Cuba to a holding cell outside the courtroom, then chose to boycott at the last minute, said a Navy officer whose name was not released by the court for security reasons.

He did not give a reason for sitting out the Tuesday hearing, but on Monday he dismissed the military tribunal with scorn, saying "I don't think there is any justice in this court."

Pohlruled Monday that the defendants have the right to be absent from this week's pretrial hearings, but said they would have to attend the trial.

The chief prosecutor, Army Brig. Gen. Mark Martins, had argued that the rules for the special war-time tribunals known as military commissions required the defendants to attend all sessions of the court.

But lawyers for the men disagreed, arguing that the threat of being forcibly removed from their cells would be psychologically damaging for men who had been brutalized while held during their captivity by the CIA.

Read more on Monday's hearing

The U.S. government has acknowledged that the defendants were subjected to "enhanced interrogation techniques" which in some cases included the simulated drowning method known as waterboarding.

"Our clients may believe that ... 'I don't want to be subjected to this procedure that transports me here, brings up memories, brings up emotions of things that happened to me,'" said Jim Harrington, who represents Binalshibh.

Harrington's statement elicited groans from a small group of family members of Sept. 11 victims who were chosen by lottery to view the proceedings at Guantanamo.  A few other families watched the proceedings on closed-circuit TV from U.S. military bases in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Maryland.

Defendant dress code
Also on Tuesday, the court dealt with what the detainees are allowed to wear in court.

The attorney for Mohammed, U.S. Army Capt. Jason Wright, explained that his client wants to wear a military-style camouflage vest over his traditional attire. He argued that Mohammad wore military-style clothing when fighting against the Soviets for the U.S. government in Afghanistan, so he has a right to do so in this courtroom, as well. Not allowing him to wear it undermines his presumption of innocence, the attorney argued.

Pohl said that the defendants would not be permitted to come into court in a complete U.S. Army uniform, but, he would not forbid all camouflage.

The five men were arraigned in May, and subsequent hearings were pushed back for various reasons.

A hearing in July was postponed to allow the defendants to observe the holy month of Ramadan. Hearings in August were delayed when an Internet outage left the lawyers unable to access their electronic legal documents. That hearing was later canceled altogether as Tropical Storm Isaac approached.

A hearing scheduled for late September was also delayed because the work space for the defense lawyers was shut down due to a rat infestation and mold, which lawyers claimed were making them sick, Reuters reported.

Pohl ruled on Oct. 5 there would be no further postponements to the hearings.

An earlier attempt to try the five men at Guantanamo ended when the Obama administration tried to move the trials to New York City, where two of the hijacked planes slammed into the World Trade Center.

That was abandoned under pressure from Congress and from New Yorkers, and the charges were re-filed in Guantanamo.

NBC News' Kari Huus and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

More world stories from NBC News:

• Assad forces using cluster bombs, rights group says
• Video: Pyramid reopens despite turmoil in Egypt
• Video: Pakistan teen shot by Taliban moves hands, feet
• Clinton reaffirms support for Libya, emerging democracies
• Madonna dedicates striptease to child activist shot by Taliban
• Western intelligence sees 'small signs of wavering' on Iran nuclear policy

Follow World News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

Updated at 5:20 p.m. ET: The self-professed mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, which resulted in the deaths of 2,976 people, appeared before a military judge at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba on Monday after months of delays due to scheduling conflicts, religious observances, an Internet outage and a tropical storm.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed shocked some observers by appearing with a long, full beard that had been dyed bright reddish-orange. He appeared before Judge Army Col. James Pohl for the start of a week of pretrial hearings, along with co-defendants Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, a Pakistani; Mustafa Al Hawsawi, a Saudi; and Walid Bin Attash and Ramzi Binalshibh, two men from Yemen.

Unlike their last appearance in court in May, which was disrupted several times by the defendants, the five men sat quietly at the defense table, under the watchful eyes of military guards and several family members of the 9/11 victims, The Associated Press reported. All seemed to be cooperating with their attorneys. Mohammed read legal papers. Two others responded politely to the judge when they were asked questions, according to the AP.

All the defendants wore white robes and turbans, and spoke openly with one another throughout the course of the day.

---

The men, being prosecuted in a special military tribunal for war-time offenses, are charged with conspiring with al-Qaida, attacking civilians and civilian targets, murder in violation of the laws of war, destruction of property, hijacking and terrorism. All five could face the death penalty if convicted.

The families of people killed in the Sept. 11 attacks were invited to military installations in New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maryland and New York City to watch the pretrial hearings on closed-circuit television, NBCNewYork.com reported.

Getting the terror suspects to this point has been a years-long process mired in political and legal arguments over the defendants' rights, the use of evidence that may have been derived through torture, and the proper venue for the proceedings. The actual trial is expected to be at least a year away.

The pretrial hearings this week will cover a series of motions filed by the various defense teams, dealing primarily with secrecy issues and the detainees' rights.

The most controversial issue, which was not taken up by the end of the first day, is a challenge to the government's gag order on any information gained during interrogation of the detainees. The ACLU and more than one dozen news organizations filed a motion to oppose to government's gag order. The government maintains the order is necessary to protect classified intelligence-gathering techniques.

Defendants may skip hearings
On Monday, prosecutors and lawyers spent hours arguing the most preliminary of issues, including whether the defendants have to be in court at all, with one attorney saying the hearings may dredge up bad memories of their harsh treatment in CIA detention.

Defense attorney Capt. Michael Schwartz argued that the detainees should not be forced to come to court because the process of forcibly removing them from their cells is traumatic and reminiscent of harsh interrogation techniques.

Watch the most-viewed videos on NBCNews.com

Schwartz said that if the court was considering forced cell extraction it had to talk about torture.

"No we don't," the judge said quickly.

"I think we do," Schwartz said.

"I'm telling you I don't think that's relevant in this issue. That's the end of that, move on to something else," Pohl retorted.

But Schwartz persisted, saying he needs to address the issue of torture.

"No you don't," the judge said more forcefully this time, adding that the defense does not have the opportunity to make an argument that he sees as irrelevant.

After a prolonged and heated back-and-forth, the detainees were granted the right to waive their attendence at the hearings at least until jurors are assembled for the actual trial, but they must sign a waiver each day they choose not to attend.

Toward the end of the day, the judge asked each of the five detainees a series of questions to ensure they understand their new rights to waive attendance at their sessions.

Binalshibh answered each of his questions in imperfect English, veering into a perplexing discussion about escaping from Guantanamo and alleging unfair treatment from his guards.

Stay informed with the latest headlines; sign up for our newsletter

When asked whether he understands that the trial could ultimately continue even if he is not present, Binalshibh looked perplexed, saying, "that is a very wide word, can you be concrete?"

"I'm not implying that I think you are going to escape," the judge said, adding that if that were to happen, the trial could continue without him being there.

"Escaping from custody?" Binalshibh asked.

"I'm not saying you're going to," the judge said, asking again whether he understands that the trial could continue without him. Binalshibh seemed to smile as he said, "Yes I do."

Guantamo guards make things 'difficult'
He raised concerns about the fact that guards would be sent to bring him to the hearings, though, saying, "dealing with the guard is very difficult. They didn't report everything so correctly. Problems with guards can misreporting all things."

"Some guard when you have problem with them they can make it very difficult for us," he said.

When the judge recommended reporting any problems to his attorney, Binalshibh said, "Where can I call him? There is no time to contact him. Very difficult communication for us."

Mohammed answered his questions through his interpreter. He looked down and answered simply "yes" to every question, until at the end when asked whether he understands he doesn't have to attend the sessions.

"Yes, but I don't think there is any justice in this court," he said through his interpreter.

The court was in session for about five total hours, with several breaks throughout the day. It then adjourned until 9 a.m. ET. Tuesday.

Pohl was also expected to hear requests from news organizations on limiting closed courtrooms for secret sessions and be asked to decide whether the U.S. Constitution governs tribunals held at the U.S. base in Cuba.

The testy exchanges occurred during a hearing that was otherwise calm and orderly, in stark contrast to the chaotic 13-hour arraignment hearing in May, when defendants made defiant outbursts and refused to answer the judge's questions or listen through earphones to an Arabic-English translation of the proceedings. In those proceedings, one of the men was briefly restrained and two of them stood up to pray at one point.

Subsequent hearings had been pushed back for various reasons.

A hearing in July was postponed to allow the defendants to observe the holy month of Ramadan. Hearings in August were delayed when an Internet outage left the lawyers unable to access their electronic legal documents. That hearing was later canceled altogether as Tropical Storm Isaac approached. The storm caused no damage to the base.

A hearing scheduled for late September was also delayed because the work space for the defense lawyers was shut down due to a rat infestation and mold, which lawyers claimed were making them sick, Reuters reported.

Pohl ruled on Oct. 5 there would be no further postponements to the hearings.

An earlier attempt to try the five men at Guantanamo ended when the Obama administration tried to move the trials to New York City, where two of the hijacked planes slammed into the World Trade Center.

That was abandoned under pressure from Congress and from New Yorkers, and the charges were re-filed in Guantanamo.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

More content from NBCNews.com:

• Skateboarders, riot cops clash after movie premiere
• Police: Two held after tot's drive-by shooting
• Musician in Jerry Lee Lewis' band killed in Memphis shooting
• Worker cooked to death at Bumble Bee seafood plant
• Search for UNH student's body temporarily put on hold
• Lemonade stand vs. cancer: Boy raises $80,000 to aid research
• Video: Musical prodigy, 7, next Mozart?

Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

 

U.S. military officials are investigating whether new images of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, alleged mastermind of al-Qaida’s 9-11 terror attacks, posted on a jihadist website were smuggled out of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.

The photos, which show a relaxed and often smiling Mohammed, were published Wednesday by "Al-Ebdaa," an jihadist media group, and documented by Flashpoint Partners, a global security company run by NBC News terrorism analyst Evan Kohlmann.

---

Kohlmann said the images appear to have been taken at GTMO, the U.S. Navy base and detention facility in Cuba, where Mohammed is currently facing a military tribunal with four other alleged al-Qaida members on murder and terrorism charges in connection with the 2001 terrorist attacks on New York City’s World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Pentagon officials told NBC News on Thursday that investigators were attempting to determine if the photos were in fact taken at GTMO or had been photo-shopped. If it is determined that they are photos from GTMO, the investigators would attempt to determine how the photos could have left GTMO. 

Under GTMO regulations, unauthorized photos of detainees are not permitted to be taken or distributed. 

Mohammed and his fellow defendants, who defiantly refused to enter pleas in their initial appearance before the tribunal early this month, face a possible death penalty if they are found guilty of organizing the attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people.

Jim Miklaszewski is chief Pentagon correspondent; msnbc.com's Mike Brunker also contributed to this report.

More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• Aid workers targeted amid new Pakistan crisis
• From danger zone to organic farm: Israel targets mine fields
• Euro crisis turns Spanish suburbs into ghost towns
• 'Boiling point': On Lebanon’s Syria Street, a mini-civil war brews
• Jubilee treat: Canadian Mounties guard UK's queen
• Africa's Rainbow Nation troubled by racist time warp
• 'Nearly empty': A rare glimpse inside Syria rebel stronghold
• Terror suspect's eye color? UK's flying cameras know

 

Updated at 10:20 p.m. ET: GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba -- Accused Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his co-defendants defied a military judge Saturday by refusing to answer his questions, and one of them got up and started praying as the long-awaited arraignment of the terror suspects got off to a rocky start in a military courtroom in Guantanamo.

Mohammed -- dressed in a white turban and robe -- sat silently, taking off his headphones when Judge James Pohl first addressed him. "One cannot refuse to participate and frustrate the proceedings," a clearly irritated Pohl snapped.

"The reason he's not putting the earphones in his ears is because of the torture that was done to him," his lawyer, David Nevin, told the judge. 

---

Ramzi Binalshibh, another alleged 9/11 plotter, at one point disrupted the court by standing up and shouting -- first in Arabic and then in English --  that "the era of Gadhafi is over but it continues at this camp. Maybe you aren't going to see me anymore ... there are threats we have seen at this camp. Maybe they will kill us and say we have committed suicide."

When Pohl ordered him to sit down, saying such issues could be raised later, Binalshibh shot back: "The time to discuss these things is now, not tomorrow."

While families of the 9/11 victims watched in the courtroom, and on closed-circuit television at seven sites in the United States, the  dispute - and other protests by the defendants and their lawyers --  appeared to initially tie up the proceedings  in knots. 

The chaotic hearing ended with the reading of the 87 pages of charges, which took more than two hours. The judge then declared the court in recess until June 12. 

Binalshibh earlier brought the court to a halt when he stood up and then dropped to his knees in prayer.

Another defendant, Walid bin Attash, sat in court in restraints -- apparently because of a dispute with guards -- and his lawyer said he couldn't participate because his client was "in pain." The restraints were later removed.

With his long flowing beard, Mohammed was a striking presence in the courtroom. But his refusal to utter a word -- despite repeated entreaties by the judge -- stood in stark contrast to previous court appearances where he has chanted Koranic verses, denounced  the United States, and taken credit for the terror attacks.

When the defendants declined to wear their headsets so they could listen to translations of the judge's questions, Pohl ordered a translator to repeat them out loud in Arabic. And he plowed ahead, asking each of the defendants detailed questions about their knowledge of the lawyers who had been appointed to represent them and whether they accepted them. None of the defendants responded and refused to even look at the judge.

During a break, the defendants could be seen leaning back in their seats, laughing, smiling and chatting among themselves -- apparently pleased with their ability to frustrate the judge.

The lawyers did their part, raising repeated objections. Cheryl Borman, a lawyer for Attash and dressed in a muslim hajib, objected to the attire of women members of the prosecution team, several of whom were dressed in military skirts with their legs showing.

"There are issues of cultural sensitivity here," she said. "I am suggesting the prosecution team make decisions of appropriate dress of their female colleagues so that our clients are not forced to look (at them) for fear of commiting a sin under their faith."

Nevin, Mohammed's lawyer, asked Pohl to force prosecutors to identify the men sitting in the back of the courtroom. "Given what Mr. Mohammed has been through with unknown, shadowy people it will affect his ability to proceed," Nevin said. The men were later ID'd as paralegals and FBI agents.

The tactics appeared designed to highlight objections their lawyers have raised to the fairness of the proceedings before a military commission.

In recent days, defense lawyers have filed motions objecting to rules that allow military guards to inspect the mail they send their clients, a lack of translators, and orders that make anything their clients as "presumptively classified."

The Obama administration had previously sought to try the suspects in federal court in New York City -- a move that stirred up a storm of political opposition. Since then, the case has been moved back to military court here at Guantanamo and some of the family members that gathered here this week said they are anxious to see the suspects brought to justice.

"I'm from Brooklyn and you know what, you face your, you face your fight," said Eddie Bracken, whose sister Lucy was killed in the World Trade Towers.

He said he wanted to see Mohammed and his co-defendants in the courtroom. "I want to see him eye to eye. That's the man that killed my sister -- him and the other cohorts or whatever you want to call them."

Background on the long, winding road to arraignment
Pentagon releases video of US troops interrogating bin Laden's driver
Honor student pleads guilty in 'Jihad Jane' terror plot
NYT: Role of torture revisited in bin Laden narrative
Bin Laden in hiding: Hatching horrific plots despite crippling attacks on al-Qaida 

It was the first public appearance by the five men in more than three years.

Mohammed, a Pakistani citizen who grew up in Kuwait and attended college in Greensboro, N.C., was joined by four co-defendants:

• Binalshibh, a Yemeni -- allegedly chosen to be a hijacker but couldn't get a U.S. visa and ended up providing assistance such as finding flight schools;
• Attash, also from Yemen, allegedly ran an al-Qaida training camp in Afghanistan and researched flight simulators and timetables;
• Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi, a Saudi accused of helping the hijackers with money, Western clothing, traveler's checks and credit cards;
• Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, a Pakistani national and nephew of KSM, allegedly provided money to the hijackers. 

Like Mohammed, Binalshibh also earlier told the court he was proud of the attacks in New York, Washington and Shanksville, Pa. 

Defendants before military commissions typically do not enter a plea during arraignment. Lawyers for the men said they were prohibited by secrecy rules from disclosing the intentions of their clients. 

But Jim Harrington, Binalshibh's civilian lawyer, didn't expect any of the defendants to plead guilty, The Associated Press reported.

And attorney James Connell, who represents al-Aziz Ali, told reporters at the base that the arraignment is "only the beginning of a trial that will take years to complete, followed by years of appellate review."

"I can't imagine any scenario where this thing gets wrapped up in six months," he added.

Also in court Saturday were six 9/11 family members who won a lottery to attend the proceedings. Others were watching on closed-circuit video at military bases in New York City and the eastern U.S. 

Cliff and Christina Russell traveled from New York to honor the memory of Cliff's younger brother, Stephen, a firefighter killed responding to the attacks, AP reported.

Cliff Russell said he hopes the tribunal will end with the death penalty for Mohammed and his co-defendants. "I'm not looking forward to ending someone else's life and taking satisfaction in it," he said. "but it's the most disgusting, hateful, awful thing I ever could think of if you think about what was perpetrated." 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• Prostitute at center of Secret Service scandal speaks out
• Deal nears on blind China activist as US offers fellowship
• Blind activist: What did he do to rile Beijing?
• Meet Monsieur Caramel Pudding, likely French president
• Water access spurs resentment in West Bank
• Suicide bombers kill 12, wound 110 in Russia
• Apology to journalist fired for WWII surrender scoop

Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world

WASHINGTON - In northern Bucharest, in a busy residential neighborhood minutes from the heart of the capital city, is a secret the Romanian government has long tried to protect.

For years, the CIA used a government building — codenamed "Bright Light" — as a makeshift prison for its most valuable detainees. There it held al-Qaida operatives Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of 9/11, and others in a basement prison before they were ultimately transferred to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in 2006, according to former U.S. intelligence officials familiar with the location and inner workings of the prison.

The existence of a CIA prison in Romania has been widely reported, but its location has never been made public. The Associated Press and German public television ARD located the former prison and learned details of the facility where harsh interrogation tactics were used. ARD's program on the CIA prison is set to air Thursday.

---

The Romanian prison was part of a network of so-called black sites that the CIA operated and controlled overseas in Thailand, Lithuania and Poland. All the prisons were closed by May 2006, and the CIA's detention and interrogation program ended in 2009.  

 Unlike the CIA's facility in Lithuania's countryside or the one hidden in a Polish military installation, the CIA's prison in Romania was not in a remote location. It was hidden in plain sight, a couple blocks off a major boulevard on a street lined with trees and homes, along busy train tracks.

• Excerpt: 'Black Banners: The Inside Story of 9/11 and the War Against al-Qaida'

The building is used as the National Registry Office for Classified Information, which is also known as ORNISS. Classified information from NATO and the European Union is stored there. Former intelligence officials both described the location of the prison and identified pictures of the building.

In an interview at the building in November, senior ORNISS official Adrian Camarasan said the basement is one of the most secure rooms in all of Romania. But he said Americans never ran a prison there.

"No, no. Impossible, impossible," he said in an ARD interview for its "Panorama" news broadcast, as a security official monitored the interview.

The CIA prison opened for business in the fall of 2003, after the CIA decided to empty the black site in Poland, according to former U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the detention program with reporters.

Shuttling detainees into the facility without being seen was relatively easy. After flying into Bucharest, the detainees were brought to the site in vans. CIA operatives then drove down a side road and entered the compound through a rear gate that led to the actual prison.

The detainees could then be unloaded and whisked into the ground floor of the prison and into the basement.

Imported Halal meat
The basement consisted of six prefabricated cells, each with a clock and arrow pointing to Mecca, the officials said. The cells were on springs, keeping them slightly off balance and causing disorientation among some detainees.

The CIA declined to comment on the prison.

During the first month of their detention, the detainees endured sleep deprivation and were doused with water, slapped or forced to stand in painful positions, several former officials said. Waterboarding, the notorious interrogation technique that simulates drowning, was not performed in Romania, they said.

• Video: Report: CIA spied on bin Laden for months

After the initial interrogations, the detainees were treated with care, the officials said. The prisoners received regular dental and medical checkups. The CIA shipped in Halal food to the site from Frankfurt, Germany, the agency's European center for operations. Halal meat is prepared under religious rules similar to kosher food.

Former U.S. officials said that because the building was a government installation, it provided excellent cover. The prison didn't need heavy security because area residents knew it was owned by the government. People wouldn't be inclined to snoop in post-communist Romania, with its extensive security apparatus known for spying on the country's own citizens.

Human rights activists have urged the Eastern European countries to investigate the roles their governments played in hosting the prisons in which interrogation techniques such as waterboarding were used. Officials from these countries continue to deny these prisons ever existed.

"We know of the criticism, but we have no knowledge of this subject," Romanian President Traian Basescu said in a September interview with AP.

The CIA has tried to close the book on the detention program, which President Barack Obama ended shortly after taking office.

"That controversy has largely subsided," the CIA's top lawyer, Stephen Preston, said at a conference this month.

'Years of official denials'
But details of the prison network continue to trickle out through investigations by international bodies, reporters and human rights groups. "There have been years of official denials," said Dick Marty, a Swiss lawmaker who led an investigation into the CIA secret prisons for the Council of Europe. "We are at last beginning to learn what really happened in Bucharest."

During the Council of Europe's investigation, Romania's foreign affairs minister assured investigators in a written report that, "No public official or other person acting in an official capacity has been involved in the unacknowledged deprivation of any individual, or transport of any individual while so deprived of their liberty." That report also described several other government investigations into reports of a secret CIA prison in Romania and said: "No such activities took place on Romanian territory."

Reporters and human rights investigators have previously used flight records to tie Romania to the secret prison program. Flight records for a Boeing 737 known to be used by the CIA showed a flight from Poland to Bucharest in September 2003. Among the prisoners on board, according to former CIA officials, were Mohammed and Walid bin Attash, who has been implicated in the bombing of the USS Cole.

• Video: Report: CIA lacks accountability

Later, other detainees — Ramzi Binalshibh, Abd al-Nashiri and Abu Faraj al-Libi — were also moved to Romania. A deceptive al-Libi, who was taken to the prison in June 2005, provided information that would later help the CIA identify Osama bin Laden's trusted courier, a man who unwittingly led them the CIA to bin Laden himself.

 Court documents recently discovered in a lawsuit have also added to the body of evidence pointing to a CIA prison in Romania. The files show CIA contractor Richmor Aviation Inc., a New York-based charter company, operated flights to and from Romania along with other locations including Morocco and the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay.

For the CIA officers working at the secret prison, the assignment wasn't glamorous. The officers served 90-day tours, slept on the compound and ate their meals there, too. Officers were prevented from the leaving the base after their presence in the neighborhood stoked suspicion. One former officer complained that the CIA spent most of its time baby-sitting detainees like Binalshibh and Mohammed whose intelligence value diminished as the years passed.

The Romanian and Lithuanian sites were eventually closed in the first half of 2006 before CIA Director Porter Goss left the job. Some of the detainees were taken to Kabul, where the CIA could legally hold them before they were sent to Guantanamo. Others were sent back to their native countries.

Read more content from msnbc.com and NBC News:

• PhotoBlog: Pearl Harbor from above, 1941 and 2011
• $50,000 a year not enough for widow to keep her home
• Jerry Sandusky rearrested in Pennsylvania
• Blagojevich sentenced to 14 years in prison