US military judge throws out Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's FBI confession, dealing blow to 9/11 prosecution

A US military judge has ruled that confessions Khalid Sheikh Mohammed made to FBI agents in January 2007 were not given voluntarily and cannot be used against him at trial, now scheduled for June 2028. Lt. Col. Michael Schrama found that years of CIA waterboarding had instilled in Mohammed a fear of mistreatment if he failed to comply, that he received no Miranda warning, and was denied access to a lawyer. Mohammed is accused of masterminding the September 11 attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people.

Before the FBI interrogations took place, the CIA had subjected Mohammed to waterboarding and other widely condemned tactics, undermining the evidentiary foundation available to prosecutors.

Military prosecutors say they will decide 'in the near future' whether to appeal, raising the prospect of yet more delays to a case already decades in the making.

Frank Pellegrino, the retired FBI agent who carried out the 2007 interviews, maintains that Mohammed spoke freely, saying he made it 'explicit' that Mohammed did not have to speak.