A military judge has ruled that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s 2007 statements to FBI investigators were not voluntary and cannot be used at his 2028 trial, adding another major evidentiary dispute to the decades-old prosecution of four men accused in the Sept. 11 attacks.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Prosecutors preparing for the long-delayed Sept. 11 trial will not be allowed to use Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s 2007 confession to FBI agents after a military judge concluded that the statements were involuntary and remained tainted by coercive treatment Mohammed experienced while in CIA custody.
Air Force Lt. Col. Michael Schrama, who is overseeing the military commission at Guantanamo Bay, also excluded statements Mohammed made during later FBI questioning in 2007, according to the Washington Examiner.
Schrama found that prosecutors had failed to establish that Mohammed spoke voluntarily during those interviews.
The judge cited what he described as an “unbroken continuation” of psychological conditioning and severe coercion stemming from Mohammed’s earlier CIA detention when FBI agents later questioned him at Guantanamo Bay.
Schrama also determined that FBI agents deliberately did not clearly advise Mohammed that he had the right to remain silent, consult an attorney and understand that his statements could be used against him at trial.
The ruling removes what could have been an important component of the government’s case as prosecutors move toward a capital trial now scheduled to begin in 2028.
Mohammed and three co-defendants — Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak bin ‘Atash, Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi and Ali Abdul Aziz Ali — are accused of conspiring in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.
The evidentiary ruling came only days after Schrama set June 5, 2028, as the date for the trial to begin.
Reuters reported Thursday that the judge rejected a prosecution request to start proceedings in January 2027, concluding that the earlier date would not provide sufficient time to resolve remaining disputes involving evidence and compliance with court orders.
The proceedings will begin with the selection of a military panel that will function as the jury.
Opening statements are scheduled for 30 calendar days after the panel is seated, according to Reuters.
Prosecutors will then present their evidence.
The defense is scheduled to begin presenting its principal case 60 calendar days after the prosecution completes its presentation.
The prosecution has been delayed for more than two decades by litigation involving classified material, admissibility of interrogation statements, treatment of the defendants in CIA custody and other pretrial evidentiary disputes.
Mohammed was captured in Pakistan in 2003.
He remained in CIA custody for several years before being transferred to Guantanamo Bay in 2006, according to the Washington Examiner.
His defense lawyers have repeatedly argued that the treatment he endured during CIA detention — including torture, isolation and solitary confinement — prevented statements he later made to FBI investigators from being genuinely voluntary.
A 2014 Senate report examining the CIA’s detention and interrogation program found that Mohammed had been subjected to waterboarding more than 100 times, according to the Examiner.
Schrama’s ruling accepted the defense argument that the effects of the earlier coercion had not been sufficiently broken by the time FBI investigators questioned Mohammed in 2007.
The decision does not dismiss the charges or prevent the government from continuing its prosecution.
Prosecutors may still attempt to introduce other evidence against Mohammed and the three other defendants.
Similar rulings have not yet been issued concerning confessions made by bin ‘Atash and al Hawsawi, according to the Examiner.
Chief prosecutor Rear Adm. Aaron C. Rugh said the prosecution team would review Schrama’s decision before determining whether to appeal.
The judge gave prosecutors five days to make that decision and allowed them the option of requesting an additional five days.
The government continues to pursue a death-penalty case against the defendants, although the prosecution nearly moved in a different direction two years ago.
In 2024, Mohammed and two co-defendants reached plea agreements that would have removed the possibility of execution in exchange for guilty pleas.
Then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin later moved to withdraw those agreements, triggering another extended legal battle over whether the deals remained valid.
A U.S. appeals court last year overturned lower-court rulings that had supported enforcement of the plea agreements, returning the prosecution to a path toward trial, Reuters reported.
Friday’s decision on Mohammed’s confession now creates another significant legal question for prosecutors to resolve before jury selection begins.
The ruling comes as the court attempts to impose a timetable on a case that has repeatedly been delayed by disputes over how evidence was obtained and whether the defendants’ treatment in U.S. custody compromised later interrogations.
For Mohammed specifically, the exclusion of his 2007 FBI statements means prosecutors will have to proceed without testimony the government had sought to use from interviews conducted after his transfer to Guantanamo.
Whether prosecutors appeal that ruling — and whether similar challenges involving other defendants produce additional exclusions — could further shape what evidence the military panel ultimately hears when the Sept. 11 case reaches trial on June 5, 2028.
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