Trial Date Set for Alleged 9/11 Mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed as Confession Ruling Emerges

A military judge has set June 2028 as the trial date for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who is accused of masterminding the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and has been held at Guantánamo Bay since 2006. The order setting the trial date was issued in late August 2026, according to multiple outlets including The New York Times, NBC News, BBC News and The Hill. Prosecutors had sought an earlier trial start date, but the judge set proceedings for June 2028 instead. A prior plea deal that would have allowed Mohammed to avoid a death-penalty trial was rejected by a federal appeals court in the preceding summer, according to BBC News. The judge overseeing the case has not yet ruled on several outstanding issues related to the defendants' alleged torture while held in CIA prisons, per The New York Times. CBS News additionally reported that a military judge ruled this week that confessions Mohammed made to FBI agents at Guantánamo Bay were not voluntary and therefore cannot be used as evidence at trial; this specific ruling was not corroborated by the other reports reviewed. The case remains pending, with trial now scheduled for June 2028, nearly 27 years after the attacks. Unresolved matters include the outstanding rulings on torture-related issues affecting Mohammed and his co-defendants, as reported by The New York Times. The status and evidentiary implications of the reported confession ruling described by CBS News remain unconfirmed by other sources, leaving open questions about what evidence prosecutors will be permitted to use at trial.