Crime27 August, 20263 min read
U.S. Military Judge Sets June 5, 2028 Trial for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Three Defendants
This article is an automated aggregation of coverage from news outlets. Our editorials offer in-depth analysis curated by the NewsCord team.
Judge sets June 5, 2028 trial at Guantánamo for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and three co-defendants. The defendants face charges connected to planning the September 11 attacks.
6 outlets told this the same way.
Trial Date in 2028
A U.S. military judge set a trial date for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and three other defendants accused of planning the September 11, 2001 attacks, ordering that the proceedings begin June 5, 2028 at the United States military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The judge rejected prosecutors’ suggestion to begin the trial in January 2027, scheduling it about 18 months later, and the case is charged with conceiving and directing the plan to hijack passenger airplanes and crash them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
The attacks killed almost 3,000 people, and the fourth hijacked plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania, according to the reporting that described the plot and its targets. The trial date is also framed as part of a long effort to bring the case to court for more than two decades, with a prior trial scheduled for 2021 later canceled.
Evidence, Torture, Disputes
The June 2028 schedule depends on resolving pretrial disputes, including disagreements about what evidence may be presented, after a U.S. military judge wrote that the additional time was needed to address such disputes.
The Guardian described the case as mired in pre-trial legal conflicts and disputes over evidence, with confessions obtained after detention in CIA prisons where torture, abuse and isolation were used.
The Guardian also said the prosecution relied on national security privilege to keep important details from defense attorneys, provoking questions about fairness, while the BBC reported that Holly Ratchford still cannot believe the man who lived near her in San Diego would be accused of involvement in the darkest day in recent US history.
In the BBC interview, Ratchford said, "It's almost impossible for me to wrap my head around who he said he was, and who he really is. I still struggle with that," as she described Omar al-Bayoumi’s alleged facilitation of the 9/11 plot through support provided to Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar.
Who Faces Execution
The trial is set for four men held at the U.S. military base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Walid bin Attash, and Mustafa Ahmad al-Hawsawi, with the Guardian stating that the four other men are facing the death penalty.
The Guardian reported that Schrama denied a request from the prosecution for the trial to begin as early as next January, and that the provisional date depends on procedural deadlines and processes outlined in the order referred to as "the overarching scaffolding."
Victims’ family members and advocates have pushed for trial despite legal hurdles, and Terry Strada, the leader of 9/11 Families United and a widow who lost her husband in the attacks, told the Associated Press she was willing to wait years for "the punishment to fit the crime. And that would be the death penalty."
The case also remains shaped by disputes over a plea agreement, with the Guardian saying defendants petitioned the US supreme court to rescind a 2024 decision by Lloyd J Austin III to block a plea deal that would have allowed them to serve life terms rather than face a death penalty trial.