Guantanamo Trial for 9/11 Plotters Set for 2028 Amidst Growing Impatience

Twenty-five years after the September 11 attacks claimed nearly 3,000 lives, the legal proceedings against the alleged masterminds have finally reached a new milestone. Following the rejection of prosecutors’ earlier request to commence the trial in January 2027, a military judge at Guantanamo Bay has mandated that jury selection for four defendants, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, start on June 5, 2028.

The frustration within the victims’ community is palpable. Gordon Felt, president of the Families of Flight 93, described the ongoing pre-trial phase as endless. Speaking to CBS News, Felt emphasized that accountability has remained out of reach for decades. His brother, Edward Felt, was among the 40 passengers and crew members who perished after battling hijackers on United Airlines Flight 93.

Khaleed Sheikh Mohammed, often referred to as KSM, stands alongside Walid bin Attash, Ammar al-Baluchi, and Mustafa al-Hawsawi as the four defendants facing capital charges. Prosecutors allege that Mohammed designed and directed the scheme to hijack commercial planes and smash them into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. A fifth suspect, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, has been removed from the case after a judge ruled he was mentally unfit to stand trial.

The path to this courtroom date has been fraught with legal and logistical obstacles. Michael Lebowitz, a former Justice Department national security attorney and Guantanamo prosecutor, noted that the Bush administration’s decision to utilize military commissions rather than federal courts created a uniquely complicated hybrid system. This approach resulted in frequent personnel changes and a lack of the steady operational rhythm found in civilian courthouses.

Lebowitz, who served for approximately a decade on the 9/11 case, described the litigation process as a “traveling circus.” Unlike standard court proceedings, hearings at Guantanamo require judges, lawyers, witnesses, and staff to charter flights from Andrews Air Force Base. This logistical burden is compounded by the rotation of personnel, forcing the legal team to re-litigate basic procedural matters every six months to a year.

A significant hurdle involved the admissibility of statements Mohammed made to the FBI in 2007. Defense attorneys argued these confessions were tainted by years of coercive interrogation, including waterboarding, during his time in secret CIA custody. In August, a military judge excluded the statements, ruling that the government failed to prove they were voluntary. Prosecutors declined to appeal the decision, a move Felt supported, fearing that an appeal would delay the 2028 timeline even further.

Despite the loss of the confessions, Lebowitz expressed confidence that sufficient documentary and communications evidence exists to secure convictions. However, he acknowledged that excluding the statements complicates the task of connecting all the evidentiary dots.

For many families, the delay has taken a severe toll. Lebowitz highlighted that numerous survivors and family members are now elderly, having spent their final years hoping to witness a guilty verdict. As the case moves toward jury selection, the focus remains on finally transitioning from pre-trial maneuvers to a substantive trial that delivers justice for the 2,977 victims and the hundreds who later died from illnesses related to the attack sites.