Nearly 11 years after the September 11 attacks, family members of some of those killed were yesterday watching via closed-circuit TV as the self-proclaimed “mastermind” and four co-defendants appeared for a hearing at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

That’s just not the same as being there to me

“I want to bear witness that, in fact, these people are brought to justice,” said Al Santora, whose firefighter son Christopher died at the World Trade Centre.

Mr Santora and his wife, Maureen, planned to watch the arraignment of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the others at Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn, where others began gathering for a live broadcast of the hearing for family members, survivors and emergency personnel who responded to the attacks.

The fort is one of four military bases where the proceedings will be shown. Others are Fort Devens in Massachusetts and Joint Base McGuire Dix in New Jersey. Only the fourth, Fort Meade in Maryland, is open to the public.

Mohammed and the others are expected to be arraigned on charges that include terrorism and murder. They could get the death penalty if convicted over the attacks that sent hijacked airliners slamming into the World Trade Centre, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania. The trial is probably at least a year away.

Six families of those killedwere chosen by lottery to travel to Guantanamo to see the arraignment in person.

Alan Linton, of Frederick, Maryland, who lost his son Alan Jr, an investment banker, at the World Trade Centre, said he and his wife put their names in the lottery for the Cuba trip but they are not interested in watching a video feed of the arraignment.

“That’s just not the same as being there to me,” Mr Linton said. “Going to Fort Meade, it’s kind of like watching television.”

Mr Santora said he hopes the trial can proceed quickly once it starts. “They have tons and tons of evidence and they’ve already admitted their guilt,” he said. “So I don’t know why the trial should be long.