A US military judge has ordered Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, accused of masterminding the September 11 attacks, and three co-defendants to stand trial before a military tribunal in June 2028.
The order, issued on Wednesday by US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Michael Schrama, marks the latest development in a prosecution that has been delayed by legal disputes for more than two decades. The four men are being held at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba.
Last month, a US appeals court blocked Mohammed and two co-defendants from pleading guilty under agreements that would have spared them the death penalty. The ruling overturned earlier decisions by a military judge and the US Court of Military Commission Review that had supported the plea arrangements.
The agreements were initially offered last year and accepted by the official overseeing the Pentagon’s Guantanamo war court. However, then-Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin revoked them last August following criticism from Republican lawmakers.
Under Schrama’s 11-page order, Mohammed and his co-defendants ā Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak bin āAtash, Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi and Ali Abdul Aziz Ali ā will go on trial on June 5, 2028.
The proceedings will begin with the selection of a panel made up entirely of US service members, who will serve as the jury under military justice rules.
Opening statements will begin 30 days after the panel is selected, followed by the prosecution presenting its evidence. The defendants will then have the opportunity to file motions seeking findings of not guilty.
Both sides will be allowed to argue and challenge those motions, while prosecutors may also reopen their case. The defence is scheduled to begin presenting its main evidence 60 days after the prosecution concludes.
The trial will conclude with a sentencing phase.
Schrama rejected prosecutors’ request to begin the trial in January 2027, saying the proposed date would not provide enough time for the āresolution of pretrial evidentiary and compliance motionsā.
Mohammed is the most prominent detainee at Guantanamo Bay, which was established in 2002 under then-president George W. Bush to hold foreign militant suspects after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
He is accused of playing a central role in planning the hijacking of commercial aircraft that were flown into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon. Nearly 3,000 people were killed in the 9/11 attacks.
