Trial remains elusive for alleged mastermind of 9/11 attacks

NEW YORK (AP) — Two decades after United States (US) authorities locked Khalid Sheikh Mohammed away at a military detention centre in Cuba, the purported mastermind of the deadly September 11 attacks seems barely any closer to being put on trial than the day he arrived.

Over 3,000 people were killed in separate attacks across the US 25 years ago.

A judge recently set a 2028 trial date for Mohammed before a military tribunal, but legal experts believe it will never happen, not that year or any other year.

They believe the maze of legal issues that arose because Mohammed was tortured following his 2003 capture in Pakistan is too twisted to ever be straightened out.

A fleeting bid to put him on trial in a civilian court in New York City was shouted down years ago over security concerns.

A plea agreement that would have kept Mohammed imprisoned for life, but spared him from a possible execution, began to collapse shortly after it was announced in 2024 and finally died for good last year.

“It’s all contaminated by politics and the lack of accountability on torture,” said Joshua Dratel, an attorney who played a part in ensuring that Mohammed has proper legal representation.

In late August, the US military judge who set a June 5, 2028, trial date for Mohammed and three others charged in the so-called 9/11 attacks ruled that prosecutors could not use an alleged confession he made to the FBI in 2007.

Those statements were deemed tainted because Mohammed was subjected to “enhanced interrogation techniques” overseas, including the simulated drowning technique called waterboarding.

The ruling was a blow to the prosecution, experts say.

The US government has decided not to appeal, in part because doing so could further delay a possible trial.

Meanwhile, Mohammed remains jailed at Guantanamo Bay, where he was taken on September 5, 2006, after more than three years in secret prisons in other countries.

Terry Strada, whose husband, Tom, died at the World Trade Centre on September 11, said that she and other people who lost family members still hope a trial will someday happen.

“We very much want to see this come to an end at some point. We do want to see justice served. It’s just as important as 25 years ago,” she said.

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