More than two decades after nearly 3,000 lives were lost in a single morning, a military judge has set June 5, 2028, as the trial date for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and three alleged co-conspirators at Guantanamo Bay — a date that itself arrives only after collapsed plea deals, cancelled proceedings, and the slow grind of pretrial disputes. Justice, in cases of this magnitude, does not move swiftly; it moves through layers of law, politics, and human grief. For the families still waiting, the calendar has turned again, and the answers they seek remain just beyond the horizon.
9/11 Mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Trial Set for June 2028
Nearly 3,000 people killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks; victim families still seeking answers about the plot.
The military and successive administrations have struggled for more than two decades
Mark
Why has this taken so long? It's been 27 years since the attacks.
Mimi
The legal system at Guantanamo Bay moves differently than civilian courts. There are questions about evidence, about how it was obtained, about what can be used. Those disputes have to be resolved before trial can happen.
Mark
So the 18-month delay is just about paperwork and procedure?
Mimi
Not just paperwork. It's about what's admissible, what's fair, what the rules of military justice actually allow. It matters for the integrity of the trial itself.
Mark
I remember there was a plea deal. What happened with that?
Mimi
It was negotiated for two years. Mohammed would have pleaded guilty, gotten life without parole, and answered questions from victim families. But the Biden administration pulled back from it. They decided the case should go to trial instead.
Mark
Why would they do that?
Mimi
That wasn't made explicit in the ruling. But it meant the families wouldn't get the guaranteed answers they might have gotten through the plea. Now they have to wait for trial, and there's still no certainty about what will come out.
Mark
Could this be delayed again?
Mimi
Yes. The judge said the 2028 date depends on meeting deadlines along the way. A trial was already scheduled for 2021 and cancelled. It could happen again.
The Pulse
- After 27 years of legal limbo, a firm trial date has finally been set — but it sits two more years away, in June 2028, pushed back 18 months from what prosecutors had hoped.
- A promising resolution collapsed when the Biden administration withdrew support for a guilty plea deal that would have given families direct answers about how the attacks were planned.
- Pretrial disputes over admissible evidence remain the central obstacle, with the judge ruling that these conflicts must be resolved before any courtroom testimony can begin.
- The four defendants — including Mohammed, the alleged mastermind — remain among the last detainees at Guantanamo Bay, their legal fate still unresolved after more than two decades of detention.
- The 2028 date carries no guarantees; missed deadlines or new disputes could push the trial further still, leaving victim families in continued uncertainty.
More than two decades after nearly 3,000 lives were lost in a single morning, a military judge has set June 5, 2028, as the trial date for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and three alleged co-conspirators at Guantanamo Bay — a date that itself arrives only after collapsed plea deals, cancelled proceedings, and the slow grind of pretrial disputes. Justice, in cases of this magnitude, does not move swiftly; it moves through layers of law, politics, and human grief. For the families still waiting, the calendar has turned again, and the answers they seek remain just beyond the horizon.
A military judge has scheduled June 5, 2028, as the trial date for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and three alleged co-conspirators accused of orchestrating the September 11 attacks. Air Force Lt. Col. Michael A. Schrama issued the ruling this week, pushing proceedings back 18 months from the January 2027 start prosecutors had sought, citing the need to resolve ongoing disputes over which evidence will be admissible at trial.
Mohammed is accused of conceiving and directing the plot that turned commercial airliners into weapons, killing nearly 3,000 people at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. He will stand trial alongside Walid bin Attash, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, and Mustafa al-Hawsawi — all four still held at Guantanamo Bay among its dwindling population of detainees.
The road to this date has been long and fractured. A 2021 trial date was abandoned. More recently, a guilty plea agreement — negotiated over two years and structured to include life sentences and obligatory answers to victim families' questions — collapsed in 2024 when the Biden administration withdrew its support, sending the case back toward full trial.
Schrama's ruling makes clear that June 2028 is conditional, not certain. If key deadlines are missed, further delays remain possible. For the families of those killed, who have waited more than a quarter-century for accountability, the courtroom remains a destination still not quite within reach.
A military judge has set June 5, 2028, as the trial date for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and three men accused of orchestrating the September 11 attacks. The decision, handed down by Air Force Lt. Col. Michael A. Schrama on Wednesday, pushes the proceedings back 18 months from the January 2027 start that prosecutors had sought. The delay, Schrama wrote in his ruling, is necessary to work through pretrial disputes—chiefly disagreements over which evidence will be admissible when the case finally reaches the courtroom.
Mohammed stands accused of conceiving and directing the plot to hijack commercial airliners and crash them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. A fourth plane, seized by passengers and crew, went down in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. He will face trial alongside three alleged co-conspirators: Walid bin Attash, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, and Mustafa al-Hawsawi. All four remain detained at the U.S. military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, among the last prisoners held there.
The path to this June 2028 date has been neither straight nor swift. For more than two decades, the U.S. military and successive presidential administrations have struggled to bring Mohammed to trial. A trial date was set for 2021 but was later scrapped. More recently, the case appeared to be moving toward resolution through a guilty plea agreement negotiated over two years. Under that deal, Mohammed and two of his co-defendants would have received life sentences without possibility of parole, and they would have been obligated to answer remaining questions from families of the victims about how the attacks were planned and carried out. But in 2024, the Biden administration withdrew its support for the agreement, effectively canceling the plea deal and leaving the case to proceed toward full trial.
The June 2028 date is not guaranteed. Schrama's ruling makes clear that the trial depends on the case meeting various deadlines and milestones in the years ahead. If those benchmarks slip, the trial could be delayed again. The families of nearly 3,000 people killed on September 11, 2001, have waited more than a quarter-century for answers about how the attacks were conceived and executed. They will now wait at least two more years to hear testimony in open court.
Notable Quotes
The additional time is needed to resolve pretrial disputes, including disagreements about what evidence can be presented at trial— Air Force Lt. Col. Michael A. Schrama, military judge
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