Washington: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged Pakistani mastermind of the Sep 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, has told a U.S. military court he would embrace the death penalty for his role in the strike.

"Yes, this is what I wish, to be a martyr for a long time," he told the military judge presiding over the case in Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba

Thursday. "I will, God willing, have this by you"

"It is inquisition, (it) is not trial," Mohammad said through a translator at his first court appearance since he was apprehended in Pakistan in 2003. He described the period as "five years of torturing" by American forces, US media reports said.

Referred to as 'KSM', he is being tried at the military base with four alleged co-conspirators who all face the death penalty for their role in the Sep 11 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.

The four others are: Ramzi Bin al Shibh, said to have been the main intermediary between the hijackers and Al Qaeda leaders; Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, known as Ammar al-Baluchi, a nephew and lieutenant of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed; al-Baluchi's assistant, Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi; and Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin Attash, also known as Khallad.