9/11 suspects set for NY trial.

SEPTEMBER 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other Guantanamo Bay detainees will stand trial in a civilian court in New York, it emerged yesterday.

Mohammed has admitted to interrogators that he was the architect of the 2001 plot that killed almost 3000 people.

US attorney general Eric Holder said prosecutors will seek the death penalty. A further five alleged terrorists will be tried under military law.

They include Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, a major suspect in the bombing of the USS Cole, which killed 17 sailors in October 2000.

Glenn Sulmasy, a law professor at the US Coast Guard Academy, said: "This is definitely a seismic shift in how we're approaching the war on al-Qaeda."

Meanwhile, US prosecutors want to take control of four mosques and a New York City skyscraper owned by a Muslim organisation they suspect is controlled by the Iranian government. It would be one of the biggest counter-terrorism seizures in American history.

Prosecutors filed a civil complaint on Thursday against the Alavi Foundation in an attempt to seize more than pounds 302million of their assets.

These include bank accounts, schools and mosques in New York, Maryland, California and Houston, more than 100 acres of land in Virginia and a 36-storey Manhattan office tower.

It's alleged the foundation helps illegally funnel millions of dollars into Iran's state-owned Bank Melli.

An attorney's office spokeswoman said there were no allegations of any wrongdoing on the part of occupants of the foundation's properties.

CAPTION(S):

DETAINEE: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed