Nearly 3,000 people died when hijacked aircraft struck the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Virginia on 11 September 2001, with another plane crashing in Pennsylvania after passengers fought back. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, identified as the alleged architect of the attacks, has been detained at the military prison at Guantanamo Bay for 20 years without conviction.
Family members of those killed have attended multiple pre-trial proceedings at the facility, entering a lottery system to observe sessions in a secure courtroom separated from defendants by thick glass. The complex legal process has involved five different military judges over the course of proceedings that victims’ relatives characterize as slow-moving. A trial date of June 2028 was recently established for Mohammed, though bereaved family members express skepticism about whether further delays will occur and whether elderly relatives will survive to witness the trial.
Mohamme is charged with offences including conspiracy and murder, with approximately 2,976 victims named in the charges. He faces allegations that he conceived the plan to train pilots to fly commercial aircraft into buildings and presented the concept to al-Qaeda leadership. Experts attribute the protracted timeline largely to legal disputes stemming from treatment of Mohammed and co-defendants during detention in secret CIA facilities and at Guantanamo Bay.
A military judge recently determined that confessions obtained from Mohammed by FBI agents must be excluded from trial, ruling that his prior treatment constituted “extraordinary physical and mental abuse.” The decision eliminates what prosecutors had considered their strongest evidence, though the government possesses additional materials including intercepted communications and secret recordings. Defence teams are expected to file motions to suppress certain categories of evidence as proceedings continue.
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