One of the accused masterminds of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States in 2001 fired one of his military lawyers on the first day of pretrial hearings Monday.
Walid bin Attash complained that he does not trust his attorneys, and said the government is stifling his defense.
Judges presiding at the hearings, held at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, are also struggling with questions about how much of the proceedings should be made public.
Reporters and witnesses are not in the same room as the defendants. The audio feed to them went silent unexpectedly at one point Monday. No one would say who authorized the interruption, but military officials say audio may have been cut to prevent anyone from hearing classified information.
The Pentagon is under pressure from human-rights groups and journalists for a open trial.