Nearly a quarter-century after the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil, the man accused of engineering it will stand trial in June 2028 — a date that speaks less to the speed of justice than to its weight. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's long journey from secret detention to a military courtroom at Guantanamo Bay reflects the profound difficulty democracies face when they attempt to try the unthinkable within the bounds of law. The collapse of a plea agreement that once seemed to offer resolution has returned the case to its most consequential form: a capital trial that will force the world t
9/11 Mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Trial Set for June 2028
Approximately 3,000 people died in the September 11, 2001 attacks that Mohammed is accused of masterminding.
Nearly twenty-seven years after the attacks he is accused of orchestrating
Mark
Why did the plea deal fall apart? It seemed like both sides had agreed.
Mimi
The Defense Secretary didn't know it was happening. When he found out, he reversed it immediately. A lot of people thought a life sentence was the right outcome, but the government wanted to keep the death penalty on the table.
Mark
So now there's a trial instead. What changes for Mohammed?
Mimi
Everything. He goes from a guaranteed life sentence to facing execution. The trial could take years. It's much more uncertain for him now.
Mark
Why did the judge push the date to 2028? That's two more years.
Mimi
Pre-trial work in a case this size is enormous. They have to argue about what evidence is admissible, what witnesses can testify, classified material—all of it takes time. A 2027 date just wasn't realistic.
Mark
How long has he been waiting already?
Mimi
Since 2006 at Guantanamo. That's more than twenty years. The whole legal process has been glacial.
Mark
Does anyone think this trial will actually happen in 2028?
Mimi
That's the question everyone's asking. Military tribunals move slowly. But at least now there's a date on the calendar.
Il Polso
- A plea deal that would have spared Mohammed's life was struck down by a federal appeals court last summer, erasing years of negotiation and forcing the case back to square one.
- Mohammed and three co-accused now face the death penalty at a military tribunal operating under rules that have long drawn scrutiny from legal scholars and human rights observers.
- The June 2028 date was chosen specifically because an earlier 2027 timeline would not allow enough time to untangle the dense web of evidentiary disputes accumulated over two decades.
- Families of the nearly 3,000 people killed on September 11 have watched this reckoning be deferred again and again, and now face at least two more years before a verdict is possible.
- Guantanamo Bay, once holding nearly 780 detainees, now holds roughly fifteen — and this trial may define the final chapter of what the facility was built to contain.
Nearly a quarter-century after the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil, the man accused of engineering it will stand trial in June 2028 — a date that speaks less to the speed of justice than to its weight. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's long journey from secret detention to a military courtroom at Guantanamo Bay reflects the profound difficulty democracies face when they attempt to try the unthinkable within the bounds of law. The collapse of a plea agreement that once seemed to offer resolution has returned the case to its most consequential form: a capital trial that will force the world to witness, once more, the full accounting of September 11.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will stand trial in June 2028, a military judge confirmed this week — placing the start of formal proceedings nearly twenty-seven years after the attacks he is accused of masterminding. The ruling came after a prolonged and turbulent legal journey that has wound through secret CIA detention sites, years at Guantanamo Bay, and a plea agreement that ultimately unraveled.
Mohammed was captured in Pakistan in 2003 and transferred to Guantanamo in 2006. After years of legal stalemate, he reached a plea deal that would have seen him admit guilt in exchange for a life sentence, avoiding execution. But the agreement was rejected last summer by a federal appeals court after then-Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin moved to undo it — reportedly having been caught off guard by the arrangement.
With the plea deal gone, Mohammed will now face a full capital trial alongside three alleged accomplices. The US government has called the September 11 attacks the most egregious criminal act on American soil in modern history. Nearly 3,000 people died that morning in 2001 when hijacked planes struck the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania. Mohammed, a US-educated engineer, has claimed he conceived and planned the entire operation before presenting it to Osama bin Laden.
The 2028 date was set in part because prosecutors' preferred 2027 timeline would not allow sufficient time to resolve the pre-trial disputes that have accumulated over decades. The case continues to test the limits of a military justice system designed for circumstances that have no clear precedent. Mohammed will be in his sixties when he finally enters a courtroom — and the families of those lost on September 11 will have waited more than a generation for that moment.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will finally face trial in June 2028—nearly twenty-seven years after the attacks he is accused of orchestrating. A military judge made the ruling official on Wednesday, setting a date that gives prosecutors and defense teams time to resolve the procedural tangles that have accumulated over more than two decades of detention and legal maneuvering.
Mohammed's path to trial has been anything but straightforward. He was captured in Pakistan in March 2003, then held in secret CIA facilities before arriving at Guantanamo Bay in September 2006, where he has remained ever since. Two years ago, after lengthy negotiations, he reached a plea agreement: he would admit guilt and accept a life sentence without parole, avoiding the possibility of execution. An official appointed by then-Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin signed off on the deal. But Austin was reportedly blindsided by the arrangement and moved immediately to undo it. Last summer, a federal appeals court sided with the government, rejecting the plea agreement entirely.
That rejection means Mohammed will now face a full capital trial alongside three alleged accomplices: Walid bin Attash, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, and Mustafa al-Hawsawi. The US government has described the September 11 attacks as "the most egregious criminal act on American soil in modern history." Nearly 3,000 people died when hijackers flew commercial planes into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Virginia on a single morning in 2001. A fourth hijacked plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania.
Mohammed, a US-educated engineer, has previously stated that he planned the entire operation from start to finish. He is accused of conceiving the idea of training pilots to fly commercial aircraft into buildings and then presenting those plans to Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda. The military judge, Lt Col Michael A Schrama, chose June 5, 2028, as the trial start date partly because prosecutors' request for a 2027 date would not allow sufficient time to resolve evidentiary disputes and other pre-trial matters.
The extended timeline underscores the extraordinary complexity of prosecuting a case of this magnitude at Guantanamo Bay, where the military justice system operates under its own rules and constraints. The prison itself opened six months after the attacks, designed to hold terrorism suspects beyond the reach of civilian courts. Today, approximately fifteen prisoners remain detained there—a fraction of the roughly 780 who have passed through its gates since 2002.
For the families of those killed on September 11, the trial represents a reckoning that has been deferred repeatedly. For the legal system, it represents an unresolved question about how to prosecute the most consequential act of terrorism in American history. Mohammed will be in his sixties when he finally enters a courtroom to answer for what he is accused of planning.
Citazioni salienti
Mohammed previously stated he planned the entire 9/11 operation from start to finish— Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
The US government has described the September 11 attacks as the most egregious criminal act on American soil in modern history— US government characterization
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Crime & Justice