Military Judge Sets June 2028 Trial Date for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and 9/11 Co-Defendants

Air Force Lt. Col. Michael Schrama, the military judge overseeing the Guantanamo Bay war crimes case, issued a scheduling order setting opening proceedings for June 5, 2028 — rejecting a prosecution proposal for a January 2027 start. The judge found that an earlier date would not leave enough time to resolve pretrial evidentiary and compliance disputes, chiefly over how the government may use evidence obtained while the defendants were held in CIA 'black site' detention and subjected to torture. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-described 'A to Z' architect of the attacks, will stand trial alongside co-defendants Walid bin Attash, Mustafa al-Hawsawi, and Ali Abdul Aziz Ali. The case has been stalled for years; a 2024 plea agreement that would have spared Mohammed and two co-defendants the death penalty in exchange for guilty pleas was revoked by then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, a decision a federal appeals court upheld. With this ruling, the case — already the longest-pending war crimes prosecution in U.S. history — will not go to trial until nearly 27 years after the attacks.