Guantanamo judge schedules 2028 trial for 9/11 accused

A U.S. military judge has scheduled a trial for June 5, 2028, for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and three co-defendants accused of orchestrating the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The date is 18 months later than the January 2027 start prosecutors had sought.

Air Force Lt. Col. Michael A. Schrama, the presiding judge, cited the need to resolve ongoing pretrial disputes—including disagreements over which evidence may be presented—as the reason for the extended timeline. The ruling marks another chapter in a legal process that has stretched more than two decades.

The case has faced repeated delays. A trial previously scheduled for 2021 was canceled, and the new date remains contingent on the case meeting various procedural milestones. Further postponements remain possible.

Mohammed is accused of developing and directing the plot that saw hijacked airliners crash into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, with a fourth plane going down in Pennsylvania. He is to be tried alongside Walid bin Attash, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, and Mustafa al-Hawsawi.

The four are among the last detainees held at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Last year, a federal appeals court threw out a plea agreement that would have spared Mohammed the risk of execution. That deal, negotiated over two years, had offered life sentences without parole for Mohammed and two co-defendants in exchange for answering lingering questions from victims' families. The Biden administration later repudiated the agreement.