A judge from the U.S. Air Force has set a trial date for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind behind the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. The trial, scheduled for June 2028, will involve Mohammed and three co-defendants. This decision marks a significant development in a prolonged legal battle spanning two decades concerning the detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Recently, a U.S. appeals court rejected plea agreements for Mohammed and two of his co-defendants, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak bin ‘Atash and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi, which would have spared them from the death penalty. The appellate ruling overturned previous decisions supporting the plea deal made by a military judge and the U.S. Court of Military Commission Review.
The plea agreement, initially accepted by the official overseeing the Pentagon’s Guantanamo war court in the prior year, was revoked in 2024 by Lloyd Austin, the defense secretary under President Joe Biden. This decision sparked backlash from some Republican lawmakers who opposed the possibility of a deal that would spare Mohammed’s life if found guilty.
The trial, as ordered by Lt.-Col. Michael Schrama, is set to commence on June 5, 2028, involving Mohammed and his three co-defendants, including Ali Abdul Aziz Ali. Another individual involved in the case was deemed mentally unfit for trial.
Schrama dismissed the prosecutors’ request to start the trial in January 2027 due to concerns about insufficient time for resolving pretrial evidentiary and compliance motions. Mohammed’s capture in 2003 in Pakistan has led to five different military judges overseeing the case, with previous trial schedules disrupted by the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Legal disputes have arisen over the admissibility of certain evidence, particularly related to allegations of torture endured by Mohammed and others at CIA detention facilities.
The 9/11 attacks resulted in the deaths of nearly 3,000 individuals, including 26 Canadian citizens, with Al-Qaeda claiming responsibility for the heinous acts. Mohammed is accused of plotting the hijacking of passenger jetliners that crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon, with another plane going down in rural Pennsylvania.
Despite numerous detainees being held at Guantanamo Bay following the attacks, only 15 individuals remain incarcerated after convictions and repatriations to their home countries. Mohammed’s nephew, Ramzi Yousef, is serving a sentence in Colorado for orchestrating a bombing at the World Trade Center in 1993 that claimed six lives.
