WASHINGTON (dpa) - By transferring the case against the alleged plotters of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, US President Barack Obama is gambling that a civilian instead of military trial will go a long ways toward lifting the stain of the legal proceedings undertaken so far at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. But the move also poses risks that could come back to haunt Obama as he tries to close the controversial prison facility and win the larger war on terrorism.

The granting of a public trial in New York provides Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the admitted mastermind of the attacks that killed 2,973 people, and his four co-defendants the same rights provided to other civilian felons in a court of law.

Mohammed will surely use the spotlight to make political statements against the United States while praising al-Qaeda and the Islamist extremism movement against the West, as he has done in earlier proceedings in the military commissions at Guantanamo.

Mohammed has already declared that he wants to be executed so he can be martyred in the name of Islam, comments that could boost al- Qaeda’s recruitment efforts. Making the announcement Friday, Attorney General Eric Holder said he will direct prosecutors to seek the death penalty for all five suspects.