9/11 Accused Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s Trial Delayed Until 2028 Amid Legal Battles

More than two decades after his capture, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the man accused of masterminding the September 11 attacks, remains far from facing a final trial, with a US military judge setting June 5, 2028, as the trial date at Guantanamo Bay.

Mohammed and three other defendants are due to face trial, but lawyers involved in the case have warned that it may never reach that stage because of legal complications stemming from Mohammed's treatment in US custody.

A major setback for prosecutors came in late August when the military judge ruled that an alleged confession Mohammed made to the FBI in 2007 could not be used. The judge found the statements were tainted by the "enhanced interrogation techniques" Mohammed had undergone overseas, including waterboarding.

The US government decided not to appeal the ruling, partly because an appeal could have pushed the trial even further into the future.

Captured In 2003, Held At Guantanamo Since 2006

Mohammed was captured in Pakistan in 2003 and accused of developing and directing the September 11 attacks as a leader of al-Qaida.

He remained in secret prisons for more than three years before being transferred to Guantanamo Bay on September 5, 2006.

His treatment in CIA custody has become central to the legal difficulties surrounding the case. A US Senate report documented prolonged torture, including 183 sessions of waterboarding.

Joshua Dratel, a lawyer who helped ensure Mohammed had proper legal representation, said the case had been undermined by politics and the lack of accountability over torture.

New York Trial Plan Failed

The case has faced repeated delays and changes in strategy.

In 2009, then US attorney general Eric Holder announced plans to prosecute Mohammed and four others in a civilian court in Manhattan, near the World Trade Centre site.

Then president Barack Obama had promised to close the Guantanamo detention centre and said Mohammed would face the "most exacting demands of justice".

The proposal, however, faced strong opposition over security concerns and fears that the proceedings could provide Mohammed with a platform to spread hostile views about the US and its allies. The plan for a civilian trial was eventually abandoned.

Dratel described the episode as a "charade" and argued that the military tribunal system had proved even less effective than the federal courts.

2024 Plea Deal Also Collapsed

A plea agreement announced in 2024 would have kept Mohammed in prison for life while sparing him a possible death sentence. The deal subsequently fell apart, leaving the defendants facing the possibility of a trial.

Families of those killed in the September 11 attacks continue to push for the case to reach a conclusion.

Terry Strada, whose husband Tom died at the World Trade Centre, said families still want justice even after 25 years.

Strada, who is national chair of 9/11 Families United, said she would prefer Mohammed to remain at Guantanamo indefinitely rather than accept an outcome that removes the death penalty.

Doubts Over Whether Trial Will Ever Finish

David Raskin, a Washington lawyer who would have led the prosecution had the New York trial gone ahead, wrote in an essay published in The Washington Post that he believed a civilian trial would have resulted in a conviction.

Raskin argued that the military commissions had become bogged down by litigation over their legality and procedures. He predicted that a completed military commission trial for Mohammed and the other September 11 defendants may never take place.

With the exclusion of Mohammed's alleged FBI confession, the collapse of the plea deal, the abandoned New York prosecution and years of legal disputes over his treatment in custody, the September 11 case remains unresolved.

The June 2028 trial date provides a potential path towards a conclusion, but there is still no certainty that the proceedings will ever be completed.