WASHINGTON — A military appeals court has upheld the plea agreements involving Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two co-defendants related to the September 11 attacks, despite objections from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
This ruling reinstates the plea deals that would allow the defendants to plead guilty to their roles in one of the most catastrophic attacks in U.S. history, in exchange for avoiding the death penalty. The attacks orchestrated by al-Qaida claimed nearly 3,000 lives on September 11, 2001, leading to significant U.S. military actions in Afghanistan and Iraq as part of the response to terrorism.
The appeals court’s decision was announced Monday evening, highlighting a key legal development in this high-profile case.
Plea agreements were reached after extensive negotiations lasting two years and were made public last summer. Those agreements are seen by supporters as a crucial step towards resolving the complex legal challenges faced by the defendants at the U.S. military commission at Guantanamo Bay.
Pretrial hearings for Mohammed, Walid bin Attash, and Mustafa al-Hawsawi have persisted for over a decade, with much debate centered around the potential impact of torture during their initial CIA custody on the integrity of the evidence.
Shortly after the plea deal was announced, Austin attempted to nullify the agreements, asserting that the significance of the 9/11 attacks warranted his intervention as defense secretary concerning any plea bargains that could prevent executions.
Defense attorneys contended that Austin lacked the legal authority to overturn a decision already sanctioned by the senior military court and viewed his actions as inappropriate interference.
Military judge Air Force Col. Matthew McCall upheld that Austin’s intervention was unjustified, which led to the Defense Department escalating the matter to the military appeals court.
Austin now faces the option of appealing the court’s decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, but no immediate statement from the Pentagon has been released regarding future actions.
