A U.S. military judge has set a trial date for alleged September 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and three accused accomplices to take place nearly 27 years after the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil.
The Trial Date
As reported on Friday’s AM Update, Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Michael Schrama ordered the trial to begin June 5, 2028, at Guantanamo Bay.
Prosecutors had reportedly pushed to begin the trial in 2027, but Schrama determined that would not leave enough time to resolve the remaining pretrial disputes. The date also remains dependent on the case meeting a series of deadlines over the next two years.
Mohammed will face trial alongside Walid bin Attash, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, and Mustafa al-Hawsawi, who are all accused of helping plan or support the attacks.
The Case Against KSM
Mohammed is accused of conceiving the plot to train hijackers to fly commercial airliners into buildings and presenting the plan to al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. The U.S.-educated engineer was captured in Pakistan in 2003 and transferred to Guantanamo Bay in 2006. He later claimed he planned the 9/11 operation “from A to Z.”
Next month marks 25 years since the hijackers struck the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, while a fourth plane crashed in a Pennsylvania field after passengers fought back.
The case against Mohammed and his co-defendants has been winding through the military court system for more than two decades, with pretrial hearings alone stretching back more than a decade.
A proposed resolution nearly came to fruition in July 2024 when Mohammed and two others agreed to plead guilty to all charges in exchange for a life in prison sentence instead of the death penalty. The agreement also laid out a process for the defendants to answer lingering questions from the victims’ families.
Then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin revoked the agreements just two days later amid intense public backlash. That move triggering another lengthy court fight. A military judge initially found the deals remained valid before a divided federal appeals court ultimately sided with Austin last year.
What Comes Next
There remains a major evidentiary dispute in the case that will need to be resolved before it goes to trial. It is unclear whether prosecutors will be able to use what Mohammed told authorities after years spent in CIA custody.
The defense alleges his statements were tainted by torture and likely pressured out through waterboarding. Prosecutors, however, say these statements are crucial evidence.
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