<p class="wp-block-paragraph">A military judge has set a trial date for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind behind the Sept. 11 attacks, for June 2028.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Mohammed was charged in 2008 and has been awaiting trial since his arrest in 2003. He has been held at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba for 20 years, having first arrived in 2006 after being held at various CIA “black sites.” He faces charges of war crimes related to the 2001 terrorist attacks that resulted in the deaths of nearly 3,000 people.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">He will be prosecuted alongside other alleged conspirators, including Walid bin Attash, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, and Mustafa Ahmed al Hawsawi.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Air Force Lt. Col. Michael Schrama, the military commissions judge, declined a proposed January 2027 start date for the trial, opting instead for the following summer. This trial follows the rejection of a possible agreement that would have spared Mohammed the death penalty in exchange for a guilty plea.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">Mohammed’s defense team has attributed the lengthy wait for trial to what they claim is a U.S. government effort to conceal details of torture experienced by detainees held at CIA black sites prior to their transfer to Guantanamo. A 2014 Senate report, known as the “CIA Torture Report,” indicated that Mohammed was subjected to waterboarding 183 times. Other alleged conspirators were also reported to have been tortured, according to the findings.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The Kuwaiti-born Mohammed is accused of orchestrating the plot that involved two hijacked airliners crashing into the twin towers of the World Trade Center, both of which collapsed that morning, as well as the Pentagon. A fourth airliner, which was overtaken by passengers, crashed into a field in Pennsylvania, with its intended target believed to be the Capitol in Washington, based on findings from the 9/11 Commission.</p>
<p class="wp-block-paragraph">The attacks resulted in the deaths of 2,977 people, with additional fatalities attributed to health-related illnesses in the years following, according to federally established health programs. The attacks also marked the greatest single-day loss of life for New York’s police and fire departments.</p>