A U.S. military judge has scheduled a summer 2028 trial for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and three co-defendants. The trial is slated to begin June 5, 2028, at the U.S. military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The chosen date falls 18 months after the January 2027 start that prosecutors had requested. Air Force Lt. Col. Michael A. Schrama, the military judge, cited the need for additional time to resolve pretrial disputes, including disagreements over evidence admissibility, as the reason for the delay.
This marks the latest development in a more than two-decade effort by the U.S. military and successive administrations to bring those accused of orchestrating the attacks to justice. Mohammed faces charges of developing and directing the plot that involved hijacking four airliners, with two crashing into the World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon, and another into a field in Pennsylvania.
He is accused alongside Walid bin Attash, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, and Mustafa al-Hawsawi. These four are among the remaining detainees at Guantanamo Bay.
The 2028 trial date is contingent on the case meeting intermediate deadlines and milestones, and further delays are possible. A previous trial date set for 2021 was canceled.
Last year, a federal appeals court nullified an agreement that could have allowed Mohammed and two co-defendants to plead guilty in exchange for life sentences without parole, thus avoiding the possibility of the death penalty. The proposed deal also included an obligation for the men to answer questions from victims' families about the attacks. However, the Biden administration repudiated the agreement after two years of negotiations.