Scenarios - Options for prosecuting 9/11 suspects

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Obama administration officials are leaning toward a recommendation to switch back to special military trials for prosecuting the self-professed mastermind of the September 11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and four alleged co-conspirators.

Such a decision would reverse plans to hold criminal trials for them in a lower Manhattan court. Here are the two main scenarios the administration is facing.

HOLD SPECIAL MILITARY COMMISSION TRIALS

If President Barack Obama decides to choose military trials for the five men, it would be a major political capitulation to Republicans who have hammered him on national security and how his administration has handled terrorism suspects. A few of his fellow Democrats have also urged military trials for them.

Mohammed and his four alleged co-conspirators were originally charged with the September 11 attacks in a special military commission, but those charges were dropped in January in advance of expected indictments for the attacks in a New York federal criminal court.

One main question for this scenario would be where to hold the trials. Obama wants to close the military prison at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where the military trials were originally to be held, but now they could keep it open for them.

Another option could be the U.S. Naval Consolidated Brig in Charleston, South Carolina, a fortified prison that has held terrorism suspects previously. The administration also is seeking funds to buy a state prison in Thomson, Illinois, to hold terrorism suspects and they could build a courtroom there for prosecuting them, but that would take time.

The military commissions were revamped last year to ban the use of coerced testimony and limit the use of hearsay evidence against suspects.

GO FORWARD WITH CRIMINAL TRIALS IN MANHATTAN:

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced in November plans to prosecute the five men in a criminal court at the federal courthouse in lower Manhattan, which is a few blocks from the World Trade Center site where the twin towers fell on September 11, 2001. Wall Street and the Brooklyn Bridge are nearby.

The court complex includes a fortified detention center and secure courtroom that has been used for terrorism cases and would be used for the 9/11 suspects. There is a tunnel from the detention center to the courtroom.

However there has been opposition from Republicans and even some of Obama's fellow Democrats about trying the five there, raising concerns about making the city a bigger target for a new attack as well as the associated costs for security and disruption to commerce in the area.

Key to what has forced the administration to reconsider criminal trials is threats by some lawmakers to try to cut off funding for the criminal prosecutions and bar money for acquiring the Illinois prison meant to house terrorism suspects.

They could pick a federal courthouse in another city for the trials but there could be concerns from local officials no matter what location they choose.

(Editing by Mohammad Zargham)