The alleged mastermind behind 9/11 will finally stand trial after nearly 25 years after terror attacks.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed – the alleged lead plotter of the attack – and three other terrorists who had been held in Guantanamo Bay had their trials scheduled for 2028, a military judge ruled on Wednesday.
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Mohammed and his alleged co-conspirators have been held at the Cuba-located US military prison base since 2006.
Government prosecutors requested a January 2027 trial date, but the judge for the case Lieutenant Colonel Michael Schrama rejected that bid and set it for June 5, 2028 amid a host of pre-trial rulings the court still must rule on.
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Mohammed, along with Walid bin Attash, Mustafa al-Hawsawi and Ammar al-Baluchi, have had their cases delayed for decades amid a series of legal squabbles and controversies around Guantanamo Bay.
The Al-Qaeda member had previously confessed for directly planning the world-altering New York attack on the World Trade Centre, which killed nearly 3,000 people.
But the legal viability of his 2007 confession has been long debated after revelations around the CIA’s so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques” emerged, having been held in US custody for over 1,400 days.
The first judge on the case, Colonel James L Pohl, threw out the confession in 2018, but would retire from the military the same year. The next judge reinstated the confession.
Past trial dates have been set and gone by – Lt Col Schrama is the fifth judge on the case.
Families of the victims are furious that justice has not been served for over 20 years.
Retired NYPD officer Jim Smith, whose wife Moira Smith died responding to the attacks, told the New York Post: “We have been asking for a trial date for 20 years. Hopefully, this time it is for real.”
He added: “It’s all going to depend on the judge. We’ve been through so many, some good, but mostly officers who wanted nothing to do with this case.”
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Retired police officer Kathy Vigiano lost her husband, Joseph, on the fateful day, said the two year wait was far too long.
“We have waited 25 years. Why do we have to wait another two years?” she said. “How much time do you need for pre-trial? Why can’t they start the trial now?”
And retired lieutenant John Ryan, the commander of the rescue and recovery task force for Port Authority on 9/11, admitted that two years could be a “lifetime” for elderly relatives of victims.
In 2024, Mohammed, bin Attash, and al-Hawsawi agreed to a plea deal with the Biden administration in order to be dodge the death penalty and face life behind bars.
Some families supported the deal as a way to finally end the case and avoid deaths happening in custody before a court date.
But others were outraged by the plea, arguing that only the death penalty would be a sufficient punishment if the men were found guilty.
The White House then revoked the deal in response to the public outcry.
A US appeals in June 2025 officially rejected the deal, but Mohammed’s lawyers have said they plan to ask the US Supreme Court to intervene.
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