WASHINGTON, Aug 27 (Alliance News): A US Air Force judge has ordered Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks, and three co-defendants to stand trial before a military tribunal in June 2028.
US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Michael Schrama issued the trial-scheduling order on Wednesday, marking the latest development in a military prosecution that has been delayed for nearly two decades by legal disputes involving the four detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The trial of Mohammed and three co-defendants — Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak bin ‘Atash, Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi and Ali Abdul Aziz Ali — is scheduled to begin on June 5, 2028.
The proceedings will begin with the selection of a panel made up entirely of military service members who will serve as the jury under military justice rules.
Opening statements are scheduled to begin 30 calendar days after the panel is selected. Prosecutors will then present their evidence, followed by opportunities for the defendants to seek findings of not guilty.
The order also allows both sides to argue and respond to motions, while prosecutors may seek to reopen their case. The defence is scheduled to begin presenting its main evidence 60 days after the prosecution concludes its case.
The proceedings will conclude with a sentencing phase.
Judge Schrama rejected a prosecution proposal to begin the trial in January 2027, saying the earlier date would not provide sufficient time to resolve pretrial evidentiary and compliance motions.
Plea deal dispute
The latest scheduling order follows a long-running dispute over proposed plea agreements involving Mohammed and two of his co-defendants.
Last month, a US appeals court blocked the defendants from pleading guilty under agreements that would have removed the possibility of the death penalty.
The appellate ruling reversed earlier decisions by a military judge and the US Court of Military Commission Review that had supported the plea agreements.
The agreements had been offered the previous year and accepted by the official overseeing the Pentagon’s Guantanamo military commissions. They were later revoked by then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin amid opposition from Republican lawmakers.
9/11 case
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is the most prominent detainee held at the Guantanamo detention facility, which was established in 2002 by then-US President George W Bush to hold foreign militant suspects following the September 11 attacks.
Mohammed is accused of orchestrating the plot in which hijacked passenger planes were flown into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon.
The September 11, 2001 attacks killed nearly 3,000 people and remain among the deadliest attacks in US history.
The case has faced repeated legal and procedural challenges since the defendants were first charged, contributing to lengthy delays before a full trial could begin.
