U.S. Military Judge Sets June 2028 Trial Date for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed

A U.S. military judge has set June 5, 2028, as the trial date for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and three co-defendants accused of planning the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The defendants are Waleed bin Attash, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, and Mustafa al-Hawsawi. All four face charges tied to assisting in the planning or facilitating the execution of the 9/11 attacks.

Procedural Delays and Legal Hurdles

This trial date follows an 18-month delay beyond the prosecution’s originally requested start time. The extension grants both sides additional time to resolve outstanding procedural disputes ahead of trial, including questions over the admissibility of certain evidence.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was a senior aide to former al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden before his capture by U.S. authorities in Pakistan in March 2003.

Two Decades of Legal Stalemate

American authorities have sought to bring the case to trial for more than twenty years. The June 2028 date remains subject to further postponement if pre-trial procedures and deadlines are not met — a scenario that has occurred before, including after the cancellation of a trial previously scheduled for 2021.

Mohammed is charged with planning the hijacking of commercial passenger aircraft and directing them into the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon. A fourth hijacked plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania.

Rejected Plea Agreement

A federal appeals court rejected a plea agreement last year. That deal would have allowed Mohammed to plead guilty and avoid the possibility of a death sentence.

Under the proposed agreement, Mohammed and two of the other defendants would have received life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. They would also have been required to answer questions from families of the 9/11 victims.

The Biden administration declined the agreement after two years of negotiations.

Fair Trial Concerns

A central legal issue looming over the trial is whether a fair proceeding can be guaranteed, given that all four defendants were subjected to torture during their detention by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.

Some of these legal complications could have been circumvented had the plea agreement been finalized.

Mohammed and the three other defendants are among the last remaining detainees held at the U.S. military detention facility at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

The Guantánamo Bay detention center once held approximately 800 individuals. Most were subsequently transferred to other countries; only a limited number remain in custody there.