US Military Judge Sets June 2028 Start for 9/11 Case at Guantanamo
A United States military judge has set June 5, 2028 as the planned start of the trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and three co-defendants accused of helping plan the September 11, 2001 attacks. The date is a major scheduling step in a case that has spent years in pretrial litigation, but the judge cautioned that it depends on the parties meeting a series of deadlines and could still change.
Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Michael A. Schrama set the start about 18 months later than the January 2027 date requested by prosecutors. The additional time is intended to resolve disputes over evidence and prepare a complex capital trial involving classified material, multiple defence teams and proceedings at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Who is due to stand trial
Mohammed is accused of developing and directing the plot in which hijacked airliners struck New York’s World Trade Center and the Pentagon, while another crashed in Pennsylvania. Nearly 3,000 people were killed. The charges remain allegations to be tested in court.
The co-defendants are Walid bin Attash, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali and Mustafa al-Hawsawi. Jury selection, formally the assembly, challenge and empanelment of military commission members, is scheduled to begin on June 5, 2028.
Why the case has taken so long
The prosecution has been shaped by repeated changes in judges, legal challenges to the military-commission system, the handling of classified evidence and disputes over statements obtained after defendants were subjected to CIA detention and interrogation. Courts must determine what evidence is admissible and whether later statements were sufficiently separated from earlier coercion.
A trial had previously been scheduled for January 2021 but was cancelled. More recently, a plea agreement would have allowed Mohammed and two co-defendants to receive life imprisonment without parole while avoiding the risk of execution. A federal appeals court threw out that agreement last year, returning the case to a trial path.
A date is not a verdict
The 2028 order does not determine guilt, punishment or the admissibility of disputed evidence. Capital proceedings require careful attention to defence access, discovery, expert evidence, juror selection and appellate rights. Failure to resolve a major pretrial issue could cause another delay.
Families of victims have expressed different priorities over the years. Some want a full trial and possible death sentences; others have supported negotiated guilty pleas that could produce final sentences and answers without further decades of litigation. No single outcome can eliminate the harm or make every family whole.
What to watch before 2028
The practical indicators will be whether the commission meets interim filing and hearing deadlines, whether higher courts intervene, and how disputes over interrogation-derived evidence are resolved. Public access to redacted orders and accurate hearing records will be essential for confidence in the process.
After more than two decades, the new date creates a concrete timetable. Its significance will depend on whether the military commission can complete the difficult pretrial work while protecting due process in a case with profound consequences for victims, defendants and the credibility of the US justice system.
