A judge from the U.S. Air Force has set a trial date for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind behind the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. The trial, which will also involve three co-defendants, is scheduled to take place before a military tribunal in June 2028. This decision by Air Force Lt.-Col. Michael Schrama signifies a significant development in a lengthy legal process that has surrounded the handling of the four detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for the past two decades.
Recently, a U.S. appeals court rejected a plea agreement proposed for Mohammed and two of his co-defendants, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak bin ‘Atash and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi, which would have spared them from facing the death penalty. This appellate ruling overturned previous decisions by a military judge and the U.S. Court of Military Commission Review supporting the plea deal.
The plea agreement, initially accepted by the Pentagon’s Guantanamo war court official in the previous year, was later revoked in 2024 by Lloyd Austin, who was the defense secretary under President Joe Biden at that time. This move sparked controversy among some Republican lawmakers who objected to the possibility of a deal that could prevent Mohammed from being sentenced to death.
According to Schrama’s 11-page order, Mohammed and his three co-defendants, including Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, will commence trial proceedings on June 5, 2028. Another individual involved in the case was deemed mentally unfit to stand trial. Schrama dismissed the prosecutors’ suggestion to begin the trial in January 2027, citing insufficient time for pretrial evidentiary and compliance motions to be resolved.
Since Mohammed’s capture in Pakistan in 2003, Schrama becomes the fifth military judge to preside over the case. Initially slated for trial in 2021, various delays, including the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, have prolonged the legal process. Disputes over the admissibility of certain evidence, particularly related to the detainees’ alleged torture at CIA detention facilities, have further complicated the proceedings.
The terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, claimed the lives of nearly 3,000 individuals, including 26 Canadian citizens. Al-Qaeda, designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. in 1999, took responsibility for the tragic events. Mohammed stands accused of orchestrating the scheme to crash hijacked planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, with another plane crashing in Pennsylvania. He remains a prominent figure at Guantanamo’s detention facility, which was established to detain foreign militant suspects following the attacks. While many detainees have been convicted or repatriated, only 15 individuals currently remain at the facility. Notably, Mohammed’s nephew, Ramzi Yousef, is serving a sentence in Colorado for his role in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center that claimed six lives.