Trial for 9/11 accused, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, set for June 2028

What the report says

A US military judge has set June 5, 2028, as the start date for the long-delayed trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and three co-defendants accused in the September 11, 2001, attacks, Al Jazeera reported, citing Reuters. The order was issued by Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Michael Schrama at the military commission at Guantánamo Bay, where the men have been held for years.

The defendants include Walid bin Attash, Mustafa al-Hawsawi and Ali Abdul Aziz Ali. According to the report, the case has been slowed by extensive legal disputes over evidence, including material linked to the men’s detention in CIA prisons and allegations of torture. Schrama rejected a request from prosecutors to begin the trial in early 2027, saying the court needed more time to resolve pretrial motions and related issues.

The scheduling decision follows an appeals court ruling that blocked plea agreements which would have allowed Mohammed and two co-defendants to avoid the death penalty. The article says those deals were reached in 2024 but were later revoked by then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, a move the appeals court upheld last month.

Mohammed, described in the report as a key al-Qaeda lieutenant and the alleged planner of the 9/11 attacks, was captured in Pakistan in 2003 and later transferred to Guantánamo in 2006. The new timeline underscores how one of the most consequential terrorism prosecutions in US history remains unresolved more than two decades after the attacks.