A judge from the U.S. Air Force has mandated that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind behind the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, will stand trial before a military tribunal in June 2028, alongside three co-defendants. This decision by Lt.-Col. Michael Schrama represents a significant development in a legal process that has been stalled for over twenty years concerning the four detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Recently, a U.S. appeals court denied Mohammed and two of his co-defendants, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak bin ‘Atash and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi, the opportunity to plead guilty under agreements that would have exempted them from the death penalty. The appellate ruling overturned previous decisions made by a military judge and the U.S. Court of Military Commission Review favoring the plea deal.
The plea agreement, initially accepted by the official in charge of the Pentagon’s Guantanamo war court in the previous year, was rescinded in 2024 by Lloyd Austin, the defense secretary at the time under President Joe Biden. Some Republican legislators expressed dissatisfaction with the potential life-saving deal following a conviction.
In an 11-page order, Schrama has set the trial date for Mohammed and his three co-defendants, including Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, for June 5, 2028. Another individual involved in the case was deemed unfit to stand trial due to severe mental illness.
Rejecting the prosecutors’ request to commence the trial in January 2027, Schrama cited the need for sufficient time to address pretrial evidentiary matters and compliance motions.
Since Mohammed’s capture in 2003 in Pakistan, Schrama is the fifth military judge overseeing the case. Previous attempts to hold a trial in 2021 were disrupted by the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Disputes over the admissibility of certain evidence have arisen, particularly concerning the torture endured by Mohammed and other detainees at CIA detention facilities.
The September 11 attacks resulted in the deaths of nearly 3,000 individuals, including 26 Canadian nationals. Al-Qaeda, designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. in 1999, claimed responsibility for the atrocities.
Mohammed is accused of orchestrating the plan to crash hijacked passenger planes into the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon, with another plane crashing in rural Pennsylvania.
As the most prominent inmate at Guantanamo’s detention facility, Mohammed was among the foreign militant suspects detained in the aftermath of the attacks. Over time, the number of detainees has decreased, with only 15 remaining after convictions and repatriations to their home countries.
Notably, Mohammed’s nephew, Ramzi Yousef, is serving a prison sentence in Colorado for his role in orchestrating the 1993 bombing at the World Trade Center that resulted in six fatalities.
