Notorious 9/11 planner to finally face trial, 25 years later

A military judge has finally set a 2028 trial date for Al-Qaeda operative Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

By World Israel News Staff

The self-declared mastermind of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks will finally face trial in 2028, following a ruling by a military judge on Wednesday.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, a Kuwaiti-born Pakistani national and senior operative of the al-Qaeda terrorist organization, was captured by U.S. forces in 2003 and has been held without trial at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility since 2006.

The military judge, Air Force Lt. Col. Michael A. Schrama, ruled that Mohammed’s long-delayed trial will begin in 2028, according to reports. Schrama is the fifth judge to preside over the case — a fact that has frustrated victims’ families, who have spent more than two decades waiting for justice.

Mohammed and two co-conspirators pleaded guilty in 2023 under a plea agreement that spared them the death penalty. According to the BBC, Mohammed acknowledged that he planned the “9/11 operation from A-to-Z.”

The plea agreement, however, was thrown into doubt the following year when then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin moved to invalidate it and sought to bring Mohammed and the other defendants to trial instead. That decision triggered years of legal battles over whether Austin had the authority to overturn the agreement.

In July 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled 2-1 that Austin had the authority to invalidate the plea deal. Even after that ruling, however, the case remained without a firm trial date.

Jim Smith, a retired NYPD officer whose wife, Moira, was killed while serving as a first responder during the attacks, told the New York Post that the victims’ families “have been asking for a trial date for 20 years.”

Smith said that he hoped “this time it is for real.”

He added that “it’s all going to depend on the judge. We’ve been through so many, some good, but mostly officers who wanted nothing to do with this case,” stressing that “someone has to man up and take charge.”

Smith’s concerns were echoed by Kathy Vigiano, whose husband, Detective Joseph Vigiano, was also killed on September 11.

Vigiano questioned why the trial has been pushed back until 2028 after such a lengthy wait.

“We have waited 25 years. Why do we have to wait another two years?” she said. “How much time do you need for pre-trial? Why can’t they start the trial now? It is time for the victims to get justice now!”