September 11 mastermind to wear military-style camouflage in court

Self-declared September 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed will be allowed to wear military-style camouflage at his Guantanamo Bay trial, a military judge ruled.

What Mohammed and four alleged co-conspirators will wear when they eventually appear before a military tribunal has been disputed in pre-trial hearings, but his defence argued he had the right to choose military garb.

"Mr Mohammed is a detained enemy prisoner of war. He wanted to wear the same type of uniform he wore while fighting for the US-supported mujahideen in Afghanistan," argued military lawyer Captain Jason Wright.

The defence also said it would argue that the defendants had not been, as the prosecution alleges, "unlawful combatants" but soldiers and thus denying them the right to military-style clothing would undermine his case.

Mohammed and two other defendants chose not to attend Tuesday's hearing, exercising a right granted a day earlier in the pre-trial hearing.