Military trial date set for alleged mastermind of Sept. 11 attacks
A military judge has scheduled the trial for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and three other co-defendants accused of orchestrating the September 11 attacks for June 2028. The case has faced years of delays due to legal challenges regarding the military commission system and allegations of torture.
Why it matters
The trial represents a long-delayed legal reckoning for the masterminds of the most significant terrorist attack in modern U.S. history.
A military judge ruled Wednesday that the man accused of being the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks will stand trial starting in June 2028. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will be prosecuted alongside others suspected of conspiring in the attacks: Walid bin Attash, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali and Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi. Mohammed is accused of orchestrating the plot to crash hijacked planes into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001. A fourth plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania during the attacks. He has been held at the U.S. naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, since 2006. Air Force Lt. Col. Michael Schrama, a military commissions judge, on Wednesday rejected the January 2027 start date proposed by prosecutors and instead set the trial date for about 18 months later.
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