They called their plot "Project Bojinka," or explosion, a scheme to blow up 11 U.S. airliners during a single day of rage against the United States.
Monday, Project Bojinka's alleged ringleader, Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, 28, a Pakistani national, went on trial in U.S. District Court in Manhattan with two others - Abdul Hakim Murad, 28, also a Pakistani, and Wahli Khan Amin Shah, who has used so many aliases that his age and nationality are unknown.
Seventy-five potential jurors were summoned by U.S. District Court Judge Kevin Duffy to begin what could be several days of jury selection.
He informed them that the trial could last up to three months and told them that while they would not be sequestered, they would remain anonymous and would be known only by their court-assigned numbers.
Monday afternoon, Duffy dismissed the entire panel from consideration after a variety of logistic mix-ups in the case. In the morning session, the defendants' suits were not available. They appeared in court wearing their blue jail clothes. In another mishap after lunch, some of the jurors might have seen the defendants being transported to the courthouse in handcuffs. Jurors are not supposed to know whether defendants are in custody because it would be prejudicial.
Duffy will start over with a brand new panel Tuesday.