The mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM), and three alleged co-conspirators are scheduled to stand trial on June 5, 2028, a military judge ruled Wednesday. The ruling comes just two weeks before the 25th anniversary of the attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.
KSM and the other three defendants have been held at the Guantánamo Bay military base in Cuba since 2003. Government prosecutors had requested a trial start date in January 2027, but the judge rejected that proposal.
The September 11, 2001, attacks involved four coordinated terrorist attacks by the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda against the United States. The attacks resulted in 2,977 fatalities, injuring more than 6,000 others. The hijackers also crashed the planes into the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. A fourth plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania after passengers attempted to regain control of the aircraft.