Military prosecutors are prepared to proceed with the trial of 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed without his significant 2007 confession, opting to avoid further delays to the long-awaited legal proceedings. The trial is currently scheduled for June 5, 2028.
The U.S. government will not appeal a recent ruling by a military judge that excluded Mohammed's confession from being used in court. This decision was communicated to victims' families in a letter, emphasizing that an appeal could jeopardize the established trial date.
Appeals in similar cases have historically led to years of additional litigation, contributing to the prolonged timeline that has frustrated relatives of the nearly 3,000 victims killed in the 2001 attacks. Mohammed and his alleged co-conspirators, Walid bin Attash, Mustafa al-Hawsawi, and Ammar al-Baluchi, have faced a decades-long legal process marked by disputes over the admissibility of evidence obtained through torture.
Prosecutors had initially agreed to refrain from using evidence derived from torture interrogations conducted at secret CIA detention facilities after the suspects were apprehended in 2003. However, they had intended to present Mohammed's confession, given at Guantánamo Bay where he has been held since 2006, as critical evidence.
Military Judge Lt. Col. Michael Schrama set the June 2028 trial date before issuing his ruling to exclude Mohammed's statements. Sources familiar with the judge's decision indicated that he found the self-described terrorist was subjected to "severe coercion" during years of CIA interrogation at black sites and was not afforded an attorney.
The military maintains that other evidence exists to prove Mohammed's guilt, including phone logs and financial records linking him to the al-Qaeda operatives responsible for the hijackings. Mohammed had previously been expected to admit his role in orchestrating the attacks in 2024 as part of a plea deal with the Biden administration that would have averted the death penalty. Amid public backlash from some victims' families over the potential abandonment of capital punishment, the administration reversed course, leading to further legal challenges and postponing a trial.