'Constantly on my mind' – 9/11 agony goes on for bereaved, 25 years on

In practice, the US administration has described it as the "most egregious criminal act on American soil in modern history".

Key points

• The couple had been preparing their unborn baby's nursery, painting it with characters from the children's television show Blue's Clues in the days before 9/11.
• New Yorkers were 'lied' to regarding toxic air after 9/11 attacks, states Mamdani.
• As the 25th anniversary approached, there was a flurry of movement and something of a breakthrough, with a trial date set for Mohammed for June 2028, last month.
• On the day of the attacks, the couple – both traders – were working on the 92nd floor of the north tower of the World Trade Center.
• Mohammed has been charged with offences including conspiracy and murder, with 2, 976 victims listed on the charge sheet.

But a quarter of a century on, the trial of its alleged mastermind is yet to commence and families of those killed fear that time for justice to be delivered is running out.

Tom Resta's brother John and his wife Sylvia. This person was seven months pregnant, were among the almost 3, 000 individuals killed on 11 September 2001 when hijackers flew planes into the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Virginia. Another crashed in a field in Pennsylvania after the passengers fought back.

Notably, the couple had been preparing their unborn baby's nursery, painting it with characters from the children's television show Blue's Clues in the days before 9/11. They had dreamed of having a baby and doted on the children of friends and family.

"After all this time, it still chokes me up, " Resta informed the BBC through tears. While 25 years have passed, he remarked 9/11 was "almost constantly" on his mind.

New Yorkers were 'lied' to regarding toxic air after 9/11 attacks, states Mamdani. New videos of man in 9/11 lawsuit reveal extremist links.

Resta has been to the US naval base of Guantanamo Bay four times to watch complex pre-trial proceedings for alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his co-defendants – a process he describes as "laborious and tedious".

For context, a military prison was established on the base in south-eastern Cuba during the "war on terror" that followed the 9/11 attacks, and Mohammed – often referred to as KSM – has now been held there for 20 years without ever being convicted.

Relatives of victims enter a lottery process to attend the proceedings in a high-security courtroom, where thick glass separates them and members of the press from the defendants.

In practice, the pre-trial process has been going on for so long that it has now been presided over by five different military judges.

But Resta remarked he was bracing himself for further delays, and with so much time having passed, some of his relatives feared they would not live long enough to see the trial.

"My father will be 98 in November, and I don't think he's expecting to see it. I have a lot of family members – aunts, uncles – that would all like to see it happen. But my parents in particular, I don't think they expect to live long enough, " he remarked.

"Hopefully all the defendants will still be alive by the time we obtain to trial. That's a major worry, " he went on.

Resta's reservations that a trial could still be further delayed were shared by relatives of other 9/11 victims.

Earlier this year, Stephan Gerhardt created his sixth trip to Guantanamo. He remarked seeing convictions for the death of his younger brother Ralph was vital for him, but something he wished he no longer had to think concerning.

"I want to concentrate on the memories, " he remarked. "I still have Ralph's car. I'm trying to restore it and obtain it in pristine shape again. We were lately visiting my parents, and we identified some of his things that they were holding onto, and the emotion behind it is like, 'yeah, this is just some old stuff, but it belonged to my little brother'."

Gerhardt remarked his "biggest concern" was that he wanted to see Mohammed and his alleged co-conspirators convicted before they died.

"They're getting elderly. Since that would be an injustice to all the family members – that we captured these residents, but we never obtained to try them and convict them for the mass murder that they did of our loved ones.", I don't want them to pass away without being convicted.

Mohammed has been charged with offences including conspiracy and murder, with 2, 976 victims listed on the charge sheet. He is accused of conceiving the idea of training pilots to fly commercial planes into buildings and taking those intends to Osama bin Laden, leader of the militant Islamist group al-Qaeda.

He has previously remarked he planned the "9/11 operation from A to Z".

But days after the trial date was set for 2028, the military judge threw out confessions created by Mohammed to FBI agents on Guantanamo Bay after he was brought there from secret CIA prisons known as "black sites". It he had been held in for years. In his ruling, the judge described Mohammed's treatment by the CIA as "extraordinary physical and mental abuse".

He remarked the confessions were not voluntary and could not be employed against Mohammed at trial.

Experts say the torture of Mohammed and his alleged co-conspirators has been the main reason for the lengthy delays in the case.

"Every single issue has been litigated through the issue of torture, " remarked Kasey McCall-Smith, an international law professor at Edinburgh University.

She remarked the defendants were subjected to "years of abuse", including waterboarding and stress positions.

John Ryan, author of America's Trial: Torture and the 9/11 Case on Guantanamo Bay, remarked last month's ruling means prosecutors lose what they had described as their best evidence against Mohammed, but it is unclear how much it will impact the case.

In practice, the prosecution has other evidence, Ryan notes, including intercepted phone calls and secret recordings, but whether they can feature in the trial is not yet guaranteed. "Mohammad's team and the other defence teams will file motions to suppress some of these categories of evidence, as well."

During the George W Bush administration, the US admitted using "enhanced interrogation techniques" to acquire information from suspects but remarked these methods saved lives and never amounted to torture. President Barack Obama banned them on his second day in office.

Relatives of the victims say the torture of the defendants has so far blocked their right to justice.

"If we would've not tortured them, the legal implications here would've been much, much simpler. They probably would've been sentenced to death a long time ago, " remarked Gerhardt. "I can't control what the government did, and we've got to live with the impacts."

Both Gerhardt and Resta travelled to Guantanamo in early 2025 when Mohammed and two of his co-defendants had been due to plead guilty under a controversial accord struck with US administration prosecutors, through which they would not face a death penalty trial.

For context, the BBC was with them at the base when the pleas were paused at the last minute after the US administration argued that to "deprive the government and the American people of a public trial as to the respondents' guilt and the possibility of capital punishment" would cause "irreparable" harm. Legal wrangling over the validity of the accord is continuing.

In court with the '9/11 mastermind', two decades after his arrest.

Notably, the '9/11 mastermind' wants to plead guilty. Why is the US trying to stop him?

While others criticised it as too lenient and lacking transparency, some victims' relatives viewed the accord as the only way through. Resta remarked he had backed the accord to secure convictions.

"My philosophy is these guys are not the kind of individuals that should be out walking the streets, but as far as I'm concerned, they can just stay right where they are. I just want them convicted, " he remarked.

Brett Eagleson, whose dad Bruce was killed in the attacks, remarked he wanted a full trial, not a plea agreement.

"It's not so much that I'm taking an opinion on life or death for these prisoners, but I believe in the judicial system and I believe that the process works and I believe that a trial and discovery and sort of a public airing is the way to flush the truth out, " he remarked.

In short, ' Constantly on my mind' – 9/11 agony goes on for bereaved, 25 is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.