A Guantánamo military judge set a June 5, 2028, trial date for the 9/11 commission case.
Why it matters: The date advances a capital case in the Guantánamo military commission system, which has spent years bogged down in pretrial disputes. For readers, it is a marker of how slowly the post-9/11 terror case is moving toward any trial stage.
- A military judge set June 5, 2028, for the case against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and three co-defendants.
- The defendants are accused in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks and are being tried at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
- The Justice Department referred the five accused plotters to military commissions in 2011 after abandoning an earlier federal-court plan.
- An appeals court in July 2025 threw out a plea deal that would have avoided a capital trial.
A U.S. military judge at Guantánamo Bay set June 5, 2028, as the scheduled trial date for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and three co-defendants accused in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, according to The Associated Press.
The case is proceeding as a military commission, not in federal civilian court. The Justice Department first referred the five accused plotters to military commissions in 2011 after abandoning an earlier federal-court plan, according to a Justice Department statement.
The timetable follows years of delay tied to venue fights, plea negotiations and commission procedure. In July 2025, an appeals court threw out a plea agreement that had briefly opened the door to life sentences instead of a capital trial, AP reported.
The Sept. 11 attacks killed nearly 3,000 people in the United States. The June 2028 date is a scheduled trial start, and the case remains subject to further pretrial motions and hearings.
By the numbers
- June 5, 2028 - scheduled trial date set by the military judge.
- 5 - defendants referred to military commissions by the Justice Department in 2011.
- Nearly 3,000 - people killed in the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States.
Yes, but: The date is still only a scheduled start, and the case has repeatedly been delayed by appeals and pretrial litigation.
What's next: More pretrial motions and hearings could still change the schedule before jury selection begins.