A U.S. Air Force judge has set a trial date for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind behind the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States. The trial, scheduled for June 2028, will also involve three co-defendants. This decision by Lt.-Col. Michael Schrama represents a significant development in the long-standing legal proceedings involving the detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, which have been ongoing for over two decades.
Recently, a U.S. appeals court rejected the attempts of Mohammed and two co-defendants, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak bin ‘Atash and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi, to plead guilty under agreements that could have spared them from the death penalty. This reversal of decisions made by a military judge and the U.S. Court of Military Commission Review regarding the plea deal has prolonged the legal process.
The plea deal, originally accepted by the official overseeing the Pentagon’s Guantanamo war court in 2024, was revoked by then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin under the Biden administration. This move stirred controversy among some Republican lawmakers who opposed the possibility of a deal that would save Mohammed’s life upon conviction.
In the order issued by Schrama, Mohammed and his three co-defendants, including Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, are set to stand trial on June 5, 2028. Another individual involved in the case has been deemed mentally unfit to stand trial.
Schrama dismissed the prosecutors’ suggestion to commence the trial in January 2027, citing insufficient time for the resolution of pretrial motions. He is the fifth military judge overseeing the case since Mohammed’s capture in 2003. Previous attempts to hold a trial in 2021 were postponed due to the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The admissibility of certain evidence has been a point of contention, particularly due to allegations of torture suffered by Mohammed and others at CIA detention facilities.
The September 11 attacks resulted in the deaths of nearly 3,000 individuals, including 26 Canadian citizens. Al-Qaeda, designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. in 1999, claimed responsibility for the tragic events.
Mohammed is accused of orchestrating the plot to crash hijacked planes into the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon, with another plane crashing in rural Pennsylvania. He remains a prominent inmate at Guantanamo Bay, where foreign militant suspects were detained following the attacks. Despite the initial large number of detainees, only 15 individuals are currently held there after convictions and repatriations.
Notably, Mohammed’s nephew, Ramzi Yousef, is serving a sentence in Colorado for his involvement in the 1993 bombing at the World Trade Center that resulted in six fatalities.
