They spent seven years locked up under George W Bush, then eight more under Barack Obama — yet the five alleged terrorist plotters were convicted of nothing.
Now, the so-called “9/11 Five” are starting the next phase of their Guantanamo Bay legal odyssey under the presidency of Donald Trump.
Accused of plotting the September 11, 2001 attacks, the men are due in a military courtroom on Wednesday, the first time the secretive tribunal has been in session since Trump was sworn in less than a week ago.
Renewed focus is on the military prison and the glacial legal process after Trump famously vowed that he would load Guantanamo with "bad dudes," and said it would be "fine" if US terror suspects were sent there for trial. It's been nine years since the United States first charged the 9/11 Five with plotting the September 11 attacks and killing nearly 3,000 people.
A multitude of procedural and legal problems, exacerbated by the logistical challenge of hosting a court in Guantanamo, have slowed the case to a crawl.