Khaled Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, told a US military tribunal that the death penalty would allow him to achieve his goal of becoming a ”martyr”.

Five years after his capture in Pakistan, Mr Mohammed entered the courtroom at Guantanamo Bay on Thursday for a historic military commission. He was joined by four other alleged 9/11 plotters, all of whom were seeing each other for the first time during their detention. The men face the death penalty for their alleged role in the attacks which claimed the lives of almost 3,000 people.