Khalid Sheikh Mohamed appeared in court to be arraigned on charges including murder and terrorism. He faces the death penalty if convicted, a point that military judge Colonel Ralph Kohlmann emphasized.

"Do you understand that if you are found guilty of the charges in this case, you could be sentenced to death," he asked Mohamed.

"This is what I wish," he replied immediately. "I'm looking to be martyr for long time," he said in accented English.

Mohamed has not been seen publicly since his capture in Pakistan. Appearing in court Thursday, he was transformed from the disheveled figure seen in a post-arrest photograph with days of stubble and wearing a grubby white t-shirt.

Wearing a white skullcap and head wrap, Mohamed sported a long, grey and white beard that reached halfway down his chest. In prison-issue glasses and a white tunic, he looked more like Al Qaeda number two Ayman Al Zawahiri than the figure shown in the 2003 photograph.

Also in court were his four co-defendants: Yemeni citizens Ramzi Bin al Shibh and Walid Bin Attash, Pakistani Ammar al Baluchi and Saudi Mustafa Al Hawsawi. All five are charged with involvement in the 9/11 attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people, and all face the death penalty if convicted. They were transferred to Guantanamo in 2006, after being held at Central Intelligence Agency prisons in secret locations.

A full trial for the men will probably not start for months, if not years. Thursday's session was an arraignment, the first stage of the prosecution process, and a chance for the defendants to decide whether to accept the representation of U.S. military lawyers.

Mohamed was the first to respond.

"I will not accept any attorney. I will represent myself. I will not accept anyone, even if he will be Muslim if he swears to the American constitution," he said.

"I consider all the U.S. constitution and laws evil," he added. "They are allowing for same sexual marriage and many things that are very bad."

Mohamed's co-accused followed suit, each rejecting their legal team and insisting they would handle their representation alone.

"I refuse for them to represent me. I will represent myself," Bin al Shibh said, over the objections of his military lawyer Commander Suzanne Lachelier, who said the Yemeni man accused of trying to become a 9/11 hijacker was now taking psychotropic medication that could affect his judgment.

Kohlmann reminded Bin Al Shibh that he could be executed if found guilty on charges that include murder and terrorism.

"I know," he said. "I've been seeking martyrdom for the last five years. I tried for 9/11 to get a visa but I could not. If this martyrdom happens today, I welcome it. God is great, God is great, God is great," he said in Arabic.

By the end of the Thursday court session, all five defendants in what is supposed to be the centerpiece of Pentagon prosecutions at Guantanamo had rejected their lawyers, insisted on representing themselves, decried the proceedings as unfair and made reference to mistreatment at the hands of their American captors.

But the men seemed aware that they would not be allowed to discuss the details of their treatment. The Pentagon's specially constructed high-tech courtroom allows the military judge to cut audio to prevent classified information from being heard by observers.

Mohamed, who the Central Intelligence Agency has admitted was subjected to a controversial interrogation technique known as waterboarding, said he knew about the "red line."

"I do not mention about the country names, I do not mention about the torturing," he said.