The man accused of masterminding the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks will finally face trial in 2028.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and three of his alleged co-conspirators have been held at Guantanamo Bay since the early 2000s, as the trial for allegedly planning the heinous attack repeatedly got delayed.
Government prosecutors had since requested to bring the case against Mohammed, Walid bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawasawi and Ammar al-Baluchi to trial in January 2027, but Judge Lt Col Michael Schrama rejected the bid on Wednesday.
He instead set a trial date for June 5, 2028, noting it is contingent on both prosecutors and the defense meeting a series of deadlines or ‘milestones,’ according to The New York Times.
A military appeals court will now have to rule on an earlier judge’s decision to suppress the confession of al-Baluchi, because he was tortured, and other related appeals, the Times reports.
Schrama also has yet to rule on similar torture-related litigation involving Mohammed, bin Attash and al-Hawasawi.
A fifth defendant, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, was found to be incompetent to face trial, and his case is now being handled by a different judge.
Schrama’s decision comes just weeks before the 25th anniversary of the attacks.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind behind the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, is due to face trial in 2028. He is pictured shortly after his capture during a raid in Pakistan in 2003
Walid Bin Attash and Mustafa al Hawsawi are also scheduled to face trial in 2028
A military appeals court will now have to rule on an earlier judge’s decision to suppress the confession of Ammar al-Baluchi
It also comes two years after then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin dramatically revoked plea deals in which Mohammed, Walid Bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawasawi would plead guilty to conspiracy in exchange for life sentences.
Government prosecutors had negotiated the deals with defense attorneys under government auspices, and the top official for the military commission at Guantanamo Bay had approved them.
But within days of the deals being leaked in 2024, Austin issued a brief order saying he was nullifying them – clearing the way for Mohammed and the others to face the death penalty.
Plea bargains in possible death penalty cases tied to one of the gravest crimes ever carried out on US soil were a momentous step that should only be decided by the defense secretary, Austin said at the time.
His assertion came after families of victims of 9/11 said they were ‘deeply troubled’ when they learned of the deals.
‘We are deeply troubled by these plea deals. While we acknowledge the decision to avoid the death penalty, our primary concern remains access to these individuals for information,’ 9/11 Justice President Brett Eagleson said at the time.
‘These plea deals should not perpetuate a system of closed-door agreements, where crucial information is hidden without giving the families of the victims the chance to learn the full truth.’
By June 2025, a US appeals court officially rejected the deal and Mohammed’s lawyers have since said they plan to ask the US Supreme Court to intervene.
The judge’s ruling comes weeks before the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks
Firefighters are pictured at the World Trade Center in the aftermath of 9/11
That decision marked the latest delay in the decades-long case, which has been plagued by legal disputes – especially over the legal ramifications of the interrogation under torture that the men initially underwent while in CIA custody.
Families of the nearly 3,000 people killed in the September 11 attacks say they now hope they will finally get some justice.
‘We have been asking for a trial date for 20 years. Hopefully, this time it is for real,’ retired NYPD officer Jim Smith, whose wife, Moira, died while responding to the attacks told the New York Post.
But he said it will all ‘depend’ on Schrama, who is the fifth judge to oversee the case.
‘We’ve been through so many, some good, but mostly officers who wanted nothing to do with this case,’ Smith recounted. ‘Someone has to man up and take charge.’
Meanwhile, retired police officer Kathy Vigiano, the wife of the late Detective Joseph Vigiano, questioned why she and other victims’ families have to wait another two years for potential closure.
‘We have waited 25 years. Why do we have to wait another two years?’ she asked, rhetorically. ‘How much time do you need for pre-trial? Why can’t they start the trial now? It’s time for the victims to get justice now.’
She also wondered if Schrama will still be on the case when the trial date finally rolls around and ‘if not, what happens?’
Victims’ families say they are hopeful they will finally get justice more than 25 years later
On September 11, 2001, conspirators from al-Qaida seized control of airplanes and hit New York’s World Trade Center and the Pentagon near Washington.
A fourth plane was headed for Washington but crashed in Pennsylvania after crew members and passengers tried to storm the cockpit.
It was Mohammed who presented the very idea of such an attack on the United States to al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.
Mohammed also received authorization from bin Laden to craft what became the September 11 attacks, the United States’ 9/11 Commission concluded.
The other defendants are alleged to have supported the hijackers in various other ways.
Mohammed was captured alongside Hawsawi in March 2003 before being held in CIA prisons until their transfer to Guantanamo in 2006.
Officially, the casualty count associated with the attacks is numbered at 2,996 – including 2,977 victims and 19 hijackers.
The Daily Mail has reached out to the Defense Department and Mohammed’s attorney for more information.
