The person who planned the September 11 attacks will be tried after a quarter of a century, in 2028

**Trial of 9/11 mastermind to begin in 2028**

The trial of the main man accused of masterminding the September 11, 2001, attacks has finally been set for the summer of 2028 after lengthy delays and legal wrangling. A U.S. military judge has set a new trial date for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and three other defendants.

The trial is scheduled to begin on June 5, 2028. That's 18 months later than the January 2027 date originally requested by prosecutors. The additional time, a U.S. Air Force judge ruled, is needed to resolve pretrial disputes, including disagreements over what evidence can be presented.

For more than two decades, the U.S. military and successive U.S. administrations have been trying to bring the mastermind of the deadly attacks to justice.

The 2028 trial date is subject to deadlines and milestones, meaning the trial could be delayed again. The trial was originally scheduled for 2021 but was later canceled.

**Mastermind of the September 11 attacks**

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is accused of masterminding and leading a plan to hijack planes and crash them into the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon. Another plane crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. Nearly 3,000 people died in the attacks.

He will be tried along with three other defendants accused of conspiring with him. The four defendants are among the last detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Pakistani-born Sheikh Mohammed was a key aide to al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden until US authorities captured him in Pakistan in March 2003.

In 2025, a federal appeals court struck down a plea deal that would have allowed Sheikh Mohammed to avoid the death penalty in exchange for a guilty plea. The deal would have given Mohammed and two of his co-defendants life in prison.

The deal also required the defendants to answer any questions the families of the victims had. However, the deal, reached after two years of negotiations, was abandoned by the administration of former US President Joe Biden.