The alleged mastermind behind the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, will finally face trial in June 2028. A spokesperson for the US military court at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, confirmed that proceedings are scheduled to begin on June 5, 2028.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, widely known as KSM, was considered a top lieutenant to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. He was captured in Pakistan in March 2003 and held in secret CIA detention facilities for 3 years before being transferred to Guantanamo Bay in 2006.
Decades of Legal Obstacles and Withdrawn Deals
The long-awaited trial has faced relentless delays over the past two decades. A potential plea agreement that would have eliminated the death penalty as an option was officially withdrawn last year, pushing the military prosecution back into active preparation.
The trained engineer attended university in the United States before orchestrating multiple high-profile plots. He famously claimed to have masterminded the 9/11 attacks ‘from A to Z’, an operation that resulted in nearly 3,000 deaths across New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania.
Beyond the 2001 attacks, KSM claimed involvement in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing that killed 6 people and the 2002 murder of US journalist Daniel Pearl.
The Legacy of Guantanamo Bay
The Guantanamo Bay naval base was established as a holding facility during the post-9/11 ‘War on Terror’ to restrict defendants from claiming rights under US law. While the prison once housed roughly 800 detainees, only a small fraction remains today.
