KSM Pretrial Hearings Resume at Guantanamo After Plea Deal Definitively Rejected

Pretrial proceedings in United States v. Khalid Shaikh Mohammad et al. resumed at the Expeditionary Legal Complex, Guantanamo Bay, with a hearing block scheduled through May 29, 2026. The hearings follow the D.C. Circuit's January 7, 2026 decision declining to reconsider its ruling that invalidated the 2023 plea agreements under which KSM and co-defendants would have pleaded guilty in exchange for life imprisonment. With the plea deals definitively dead, the case must now proceed as a full death-penalty military commission — already the longest-pending war crimes prosecution in U.S. history at over 17 years. Defense lawyers also filed with the Supreme Court to extend a cert petition deadline from April 6 to June 5, 2026, adding further uncertainty to any trial timeline.