A military judge has thrown out a confession made by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, adding another complication to a case that has been delayed for decades.
Lt. Col. Michael Schrama ruled Friday that statements Mohammed made to investigators in 2007 were not given voluntarily, according to the New York Post.
The ruling was not initially made public, but sources familiar with the decision told the newspaper that Schrama had excluded Mohammed's confessions from the case.
According to Fox News, the decision comes just days after Schrama set a June 2028 trial date for Mohammed and three co-defendants: Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak bin 'Atash, Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi and Ali Abdul Aziz Ali.
Prosecutors had asked to begin the trial in January 2027, but Schrama rejected that request. The judge said the earlier date would not allow enough time for the "resolution of pretrial evidentiary and compliance motions."
The latest ruling could create additional legal disputes as prosecutors prepare for the long-awaited proceedings.
Mohammed's case has faced repeated delays, along with unsuccessful efforts to resolve the matter through plea agreements.
In 2024, Mohammed, bin 'Atash and al-Hawsawi agreed to plead guilty to their roles in the attacks in exchange for life sentences rather than facing the death penalty. The men are being held at the U.S. military detention facility at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
The agreement drew criticism from families of the nearly 3,000 people killed in the Sept. 11 attacks.
The Biden administration later withdrew the plea agreement, leading to additional litigation over how the case should proceed.
Under the proposed agreement, the defendants also would have been required to answer questions from victims' families about the attacks.
The decision to exclude Mohammed's 2007 statements now leaves prosecutors facing another challenge as they prepare for the 2028 trial date.
The case has remained unresolved for more than two decades, with the legal proceedings repeatedly slowed by disputes over evidence, detention conditions, plea negotiations and other pretrial matters.
The advocacy group 9/11 Families United declined to comment on Friday's ruling.