In a long-awaited decision, a military judge has declared that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-admitted planner behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks, will face trial in June 2028. This ruling was announced on Wednesday, marking nearly a quarter of a century since the tragic events shook the world.
Captured in 2003, Mohammed has been a resident of Guantanamo Bay detention camp since 2006. His case, fraught with numerous legal hurdles and delays, now has a definitive date set on the horizon.
Presiding over the case, Lt. Col. Michael Schrama firmly set the trial’s starting point, stating, “Trial on the merits shall begin on Monday, 5 June 2028.” This decision outlines a long path yet to be traveled in this significant case.
While prosecutors aimed for an earlier start date of 2027, the judge determined that timeframe was too ambitious, reflecting the complexity and ramifications surrounding the proceedings.
This trial date follows an extensive legal battleground, including a once-considered plea deal that added further complexity and was ultimately dismissed. The move towards a trial is seen as a vital step in resolving one of the longest-running issues in U.S. military and legal history.
In July 2024, Mohammed and two other 9/11 defendants held at Guantanamo Bay reached a plea agreement with military prosecutors under which they would plead guilty to all charges, including the murder of 2,976 people, in exchange for the death penalty being taken off the table.
Under the deal, Mohammed would have served a life sentence at Guantanamo.
The agreement drew criticism from some 9/11 families and just a few days later then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin revoked the deal.
“I have determined that, in light of the significance of the decision to enter into pre-trial agreements with the accused in the above-referenced case, responsibility for such a decision should rest with me as the superior convening authority under the Military Commissions Act of 2009,” Austin wrote.
After attorneys for the defendants objected, the Biden administration later took the matter to federal court in an attempt to continue to block the plea deal.
Last July, a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., ruled 2-1 that Austin had acted within his authority to revoke the deal.
The prosecution of Mohammed and other alleged 9/11 plotters detained at Guantanamo has been delayed by more than a decade over concerns about the admissibility of evidence gathered through torture when they were previously detained at the CIA’s “black sites.”
On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, two hijacked passenger jets flew into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, marking the start of a series of coordinated attacks that day against the United States by the Afghanistan-based terrorist group al-Qaeda. Nearly 3,000 people were killed that day and thousands more were injured.
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