A U.S. military court has scheduled the start of the trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who is accused of organizing the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, for June 2028. Three other defendants accused of conspiracy are also due to stand trial alongside him. NBC News reports, according to UNN.
Details
On Wednesday, U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Michael Shram, the military judge, rejected the date proposed by prosecutors for the start of the trial—January 2027. Instead, he scheduled the trial for approximately 18 months later—in June 2028.
Mohammed will stand trial alongside Walid bin Attash, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, and Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi. They are accused of conspiring to carry out the September 11 attacks, during which hijacked aircraft crashed into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon. A fourth plane crashed in Pennsylvania.
Mohammed was detained in Pakistan in 2003 and transferred in 2006 to the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He was formally charged in 2008 with war crimes and murder in connection with the deaths of nearly 3,000 people in the attacks.
Years of delays and legal problems
The trial has been postponed for years because of legal disputes. In particular, last summer, a federal appeals court rejected a potential agreement that would have provided for Mohammed to plead guilty in exchange for a guarantee that he would not face the death penalty.
Defense attorneys also say that the delays are linked to the government's attempts to conceal information about torture that, they claim, the defendants endured in secret CIA prisons.
According to a 2014 U.S. Senate report, so-called "enhanced interrogation techniques" were used on Mohammed, including 183 instances of waterboarding.
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