Alleged mastermind of 2001 attacks and four other suspects to be tried by military court and could face death penalty

US military prosecutors have refiled terrorism and murder charges against the accused mastermind of the 9/11 attacks and four other men under a revamped trial process at Guantánamo Bay.

The charges against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the others allege that they were responsible for planning the attacks that sent hijacked planes into the World Trade Centre in New York, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania, killing nearly 3,000 people in 2001.

Prosecutors have recommended that the trial be a capital case, which could bring the death penalty.

The five men had been charged previously in connection with the attacks, but those charges were dropped in 2009 when the Obama administration hoped to close the US detention facility at Guantánamo and do away with Bush-era military commissions for trying terror suspects.

The other four alleged co-conspirators are Waleed bin Attash, better known as Khallad, a Yemeni who allegedly ran an al-Qaida training camp in Afghanistan and researched flight simulators and timetables; Ramzi bin al-Shibh, a Yemeni who allegedly helped find flight schools for the hijackers; Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, accused of helping nine of the hijackers travel to the US and sending them $120,000 for expenses and flight training; and Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi, a Saudi accused of helping the hijackers with money, western clothing, traveller's cheques and credit cards.

All five men were charged with conspiracy, murder in violation of the law of war, attacking civilians, attacking civilian objects, intentionally causing serious bodily injury, destruction of property in violation of the law of war, hijacking aircraft and terrorism.

The men initially were charged with the same offences in February 2008 but that plan stalled in 2009 as Barack Obama ordered a review of the military commission system. That November the attorney general Eric Holder announced that the five would face trial in a civilian court in New York.

That plan, however, was widely opposed by Republicans in Congress, as well as some New York Democrats, and Congress passed legislation prohibiting any move to bring Guantánamo detainees to the US.

About two months ago the Obama administration bowed to political pressure and backed off the plan, saying it would instead prosecute them before a military commission. The chief prosecutor in the office of military commissions, Captain John Murphy, said he would recommend a joint trial at Guantánamo for all five.

C Dixon Osburn of Human Rights First said it was regrettable that the administration had to shelve its plans to prosecute the cases in civilian courts.

Federal courts, he said, "have successfully convicted more than 400 persons of terror-related crimes since 9/11, have more criminal laws to incapacitate possible terrorists and have more than 200 years of precedent to guide them".

Dominic J Puopolo Jr, a Miami computer consultant whose mother was killed in the 9/11 attacks, attended the trial in Germany of a Moroccan man accused of aiding the plotters and had hoped to attend the trial of Mohammed and the others held at Guantánamo. He said he had been frustrated by the lack of apparent progress and was "pleasantly surprised" to receive notification on Monday from the defence department that charges would be filed again.

"Just to get this started back in Guantánamo Bay is a big deal," said Puopolo, whose mother was on board the American Airlines flight that the hijackers crashed into one of the twin towers. "I have every intention of making a stand and going there if offered."

Under the military commission's process, the charges will be forwarded to the convening authority, Bruce MacDonald, who will decide whether to refer any of the charges for trial by military commission.