9/11 mastermind's trial set for 2028 amid legal delays

A military judge has scheduled the trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and three codefendants for June 5, 2028, at Guantánamo Bay, nearly 27 years after the September 11, 2001, attacks. The date remains tentative, however, as the case continues to face significant legal obstacles, primarily related to evidence obtained after the defendants were subjected to torture in CIA custody. The trial date was set by a military judge, who also recently barred prosecutors from using statements Mohammed made to FBI agents in 2007. The judge found those statements were tainted by the coercive treatment Mohammed had previously experienced in U.S. custody. The government chose not to appeal the ruling, partly to avoid further delaying the proceedings. The case has been delayed for over two decades by years of litigation over evidence from CIA detention, a collapsed 2024 plea agreement, changes in judges, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Mohammed was captured in Pakistan in 2003 and held for years at CIA "black sites" before being transferred to Guantánamo in 2006. He and three other defendants have been held without trial for their alleged roles in the plot that killed nearly 3,000 people.