A military judge has scheduled the long-delayed trial of accused Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and three alleged co-conspirators for June 5, 2028, extending a case that has been stalled for years by disputes over evidence, CIA interrogation practices and abandoned plea agreements.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom.
Nearly 27 years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and three other men accused of helping carry them out are now scheduled to face trial in 2028.
Air Force Lt. Col. Michael Schrama set June 5, 2028, as the start date for proceedings against Mohammed, Walid bin Attash, Mustafa al-Hawsawi and Ammar al-Baluchi.
Prosecutors had sought a substantially earlier start in January 2027, but Schrama rejected that timetable because extensive pretrial litigation remains unresolved.
The four defendants are accused of participating in the planning and execution of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, in which hijackers crashed commercial airliners into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon outside Washington, while a fourth plane crashed in Pennsylvania.
Nearly 3,000 people were killed.
Mohammed has been described by U.S. authorities as the principal architect of the plot.
Yet the military commission case has never reached trial despite almost a quarter-century of investigations, hearings and legal challenges.
One of the central obstacles has been the treatment of the defendants while they were held and interrogated by the CIA.
Defense attorneys have challenged the admissibility and reliability of evidence obtained after the men were subjected to CIA interrogation methods that included torture, creating years of litigation over which statements and evidence prosecutors may use.
The resulting disputes have repeatedly slowed proceedings at the military commission.
The case has also passed through the hands of several judges.
Schrama is now the fifth judge to preside over it.
For families who lost relatives on Sept. 11, the newly announced trial date brought both relief that a date had finally been established and frustration that proceedings remain almost two years away.
“We have been asking for a trial date for 20 years. Hopefully, this time it is for real,” retired New York Police Department officer Jim Smith told the New York Post.
Smith’s wife, NYPD Officer Moira Smith, was killed while responding to the attacks.
After watching multiple judges take responsibility for the case over the years, Smith said the process needs firmer leadership.
“Someone has to man up and take charge,” he said.
Kathy Vigiano, whose husband, NYPD Detective Joseph Vigiano, also died on Sept. 11, questioned why families should have to endure another lengthy delay before hearing the case.
“We have waited 25 years. Why do we have to wait another two years?” Vigiano said. “Why can’t they start the trial now? It is time for the victims to get justice now.”
The prosecution appeared to be moving toward a resolution without trial in 2024.
That year, Mohammed, bin Attash and al-Hawsawi reached plea agreements under which they would have avoided the death penalty.
Those agreements did not end the case.
Then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin moved to revoke the deals, triggering another round of litigation over whether the agreements remained valid and who possessed the authority to withdraw them.
That fight added another major legal issue to a prosecution already burdened by disputes over classified evidence, interrogation practices and pretrial procedure.
The newly imposed June 2028 date represents the clearest timetable yet for bringing the four defendants before a military commission on the underlying Sept. 11 charges.
It does not guarantee that further legal challenges will not affect the schedule.
Schrama’s decision itself reflects the amount of work remaining before opening statements can begin, with the judge concluding that prosecutors’ proposed January 2027 date did not leave enough time to resolve outstanding pretrial matters.
If the current schedule holds, Mohammed and the other defendants will finally go to trial more than 26 years after the attacks and after decades of legal proceedings that repeatedly raised questions about whether the case would ever reach a courtroom.
For families of the victims, the ruling provides a specific date after years of uncertainty, but also guarantees another prolonged wait before the government attempts to secure convictions in one of the most consequential terrorism prosecutions in U.S. history.
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