A military judge has set a June 2028 trial date for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and three co-defendants, ending years of procedural delays.
The ruling from Lt. Col. Michael Schrama came Wednesday at Guantánamo Bay, where the four accused 9/11 plotters have been held since 2003. Government prosecutors had pushed for a January 2027 start, but the judge rejected that bid and scheduled the trial to begin June 5, 2028 — just two weeks before the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-described mastermind of the attacks, has been in U.S. Custody for more than two decades. He and three alleged co-conspirators — Walid bin Attash, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, and Mustafa al-Hawsawi — were transferred to the Cuba military base in 2003 after being captured in Pakistan.
The case has been bogged down by years of pretrial litigation, including disputes over evidence obtained through enhanced interrogation techniques, questions about the military commission system’s legitimacy, and changes in prosecution teams. Defense attorneys have repeatedly challenged the use of statements their clients made to CIA interrogators at black sites before arriving at Guantánamo.
The 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and United Airlines Flight 93 remain the deadliest terrorist assault on U.S. Soil. The coordinated hijackings on September 11, 2001, killed 2,977 people and injured thousands more, triggering the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and fundamentally reshaping American national security policy, air travel, and domestic surveillance.
The long delay in bringing the accused plotters to trial has drawn criticism from survivors’ families and lawmakers across the political spectrum. Some relatives of victims have died without seeing judicial proceedings begin, while others have traveled repeatedly to Guantánamo to observe sporadic pretrial hearings that produced little visible progress.
The military commissions system itself has faced persistent legal challenges since its establishment. Unlike federal civilian courts, the tribunals operate under rules combining elements of military and international law, and their outcomes can be appealed through a specialized review process. Previous attempts to try Mohammed in federal court in New York were abandoned in 2010 amid political opposition.
The January 2027 date sought by prosecutors would have marked more than 23 years since the attacks. Schrama’s decision to push the trial into mid-2028 means the proceedings will open nearly 27 years after the hijackings, with the anniversary itself falling during the expected run of what is anticipated to be a lengthy trial.
The case continues to present unique challenges for both prosecution and defense, including classified evidence procedures, questions about the admissibility of detainee statements, and the physical and logistical complexities of holding a high-security trial at the remote naval base.
The trial is expected to take place at the Expeditionary Legal Complex at Guantánamo Bay, the purpose-built courtroom facility designed for classified proceedings.
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