A US military judge has ordered Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the September 11, 2001, attacks, and three co-defendants to stand trial before a military tribunal on 5 June 2028.

The order by US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Michael Schrama marks the latest milestone in a prosecution that has been mired in legal disputes for two decades. All four defendants are being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Last year, a US appeals court blocked Mohammed and two co-defendants from pleading guilty under deals that would have spared them the death penalty. The agreements had been offered in 2024 and accepted by the official overseeing the Pentagon’s Guantanamo war court, but were later revoked by then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin amid criticism from Republican lawmakers.

The trial will begin with the selection of a panel of service members who will act as the jury. Prosecutors had sought to begin proceedings in January 2027, but Schrama rejected the proposal, saying it would leave too little time to resolve pretrial evidentiary and procedural issues.

Mohammed is accused of orchestrating the plot to fly hijacked passenger planes into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon. The September 11 attacks killed nearly 3,000 people.

(Reuters, lud)