A military judge has ruled that a 2007 confession by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, was involuntary and cannot be used as evidence in his upcoming trial. The decision by Lt. Col. Michael Schrama of the Guantanamo Bay military commission also excluded subsequent statements made by Mohammed to FBI agents during interrogations in 2007.
The ruling, issued on Friday, found that the confession was not given voluntarily due to the psychological conditioning Mohammed experienced during years of detention and interrogation by the CIA, including the use of waterboarding. Schrama also determined that FBI agents failed to inform Mohammed of his right to remain silent or consult an attorney before questioning. The judge set June 5, 2028, as the trial start date for Mohammed and three co-defendants, rejecting a prosecution request for an earlier date.
Prosecutors respond
The chief prosecutor, Rear Adm. Aaron C. Rugh, stated that the government would review the ruling before deciding whether to appeal. "The prosecution will review the ruling and will make a decision on whether to appeal in the near future," Rugh said. The judge gave prosecutors five days to decide, with the option to request an additional five days.
Background on the case
Mohammed was arrested in 2003 and held in CIA "black sites" before being transferred to Guantanamo Bay in 2006. His defense team has long argued that his confessions were coerced due to the torture and mistreatment he endured during CIA detention. The 2007 FBI interviews occurred after Mohammed was transferred to Guantanamo, where he remained in U.S. custody for decades.
Legal and procedural details
In his 45-page ruling, Schrama concluded that the prosecution failed to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that Mohammed’s statements were voluntary. The judge cited the continuation of psychological conditioning from CIA interrogations as a key factor in his decision. The ruling suppresses a significant piece of evidence for prosecutors as the case moves toward trial.
Perspectives on voluntariness
A retired FBI agent, Frank Pellegrino, who interviewed Mohammed in 2007, told CBS News that he believed Mohammed confessed voluntarily. "I couldn’t have told him in any more explicit a way that he did not have to talk to me," Pellegrino stated. However, the judge’s ruling contradicts this assessment, emphasizing the legal requirements for voluntariness in custodial interrogations.