During a hearing regarding the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, U.S. military judge Michael Schramm ruled to exclude the testimony of the principal defendant, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, noting that FBI agents had coerced him into speaking through the use of torture. The New York Times reported this on August 29.
The article states that the court’s decision—made shortly before the 25th anniversary of the attacks—could delay the proceedings if the prosecution chooses to appeal the ruling.
“The prosecution failed to prove that the statements Mohammed made to the FBI were given without coercion,” the report notes.
Consequently, the confessions Mohammed made in 2007 cannot be used against him in court.
The judge scheduled the start of the new trial for June 5, 2028. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, along with Walid bin Attash, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, and Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi, are expected to face trial.
On September 11, 2001, 19 terrorists linked to Al-Qaeda (an organization banned in the Russian Federation) hijacked four planes in the U.S., turning them into missiles that destroyed parts of Lower Manhattan and the Pentagon. One of the planes, likely targeting the Capitol, crashed in rural Pennsylvania. A total of 2,977 people died, including citizens of the U.S. and 92 other nations. Formal charges were brought against the suspects by a military tribunal in 2012.
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