A military appeals court has rejected Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s attempt to invalidate the plea deals reached for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two other defendants in the 9/11 attacks, as per a U.S. official. The ruling reinstates the agreements in which the three men would plead guilty to the deadly attacks in exchange for avoiding the death penalty. The attacks, orchestrated by al-Qaida, claimed nearly 3,000 lives on Sept. 11, 2001, and played a role in the U.S. military interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq under the George W. Bush administration’s war on terror.
The decision of the military appeals court was disclosed on Monday night by the unnamed U.S. official, who was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. Prosecutors and defense lawyers for Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the attacks, along with two co-defendants, had reached the plea agreements after two years of negotiations approved by the government. The agreements were made public last summer.
Advocates of the plea deals view them as a means of resolving the complex legal case against the men at the U.S. military commission at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Pretrial proceedings for Mohammed, Walid bin Attash, and Mustafa al-Hawsawi have been ongoing for over ten years, with much focus on how the men’s torture in CIA custody may impact the case’s evidence.
Following news of the plea deal earlier this year, Austin issued an order annulling them, citing the gravity of the 9/11 attacks and asserting his responsibility as defense secretary to make decisions regarding plea agreements that could spare the defendants from execution. Defense attorneys argued that Austin lacked the legal authority to reject a decision already sanctioned by the top authority at the Guantanamo court, deeming his actions as unlawful interference.
The military judge in the 9/11 case, Air Force Col. Matthew McCall, determined that Austin lacked the standing to nullify the plea bargains once they were in progress, prompting the Defense Department to appeal to the military appeals court. Austin has the option to escalate his efforts to invalidate the plea deals to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The Pentagon did not provide an immediate response to a request for comment.
In a separate development, the Pentagon confirmed the repatriation of Ridah bin Saleh al-Yazidi, one of the longest-held detainees at the Guantanamo military prison, to Tunisia. This action reduced the population at Guantanamo to 26 detainees, down from a peak of around 700 Muslim men detained overseas and brought to the prison post-9/11.
Al-Yazidi’s return to Tunisia has left 14 men awaiting transfer to other countries after being cleared of prosecution and security risks by U.S. authorities. The Biden administration, under pressure from human rights organizations, released three other detainees this month and is actively seeking suitable countries willing to accept the remaining 14 detainees.
The U.S. military affirmed
Detainees taken abroad there. Al-Yazidi is the last of a dozen Tunisian men once held at Guantanamo. Of those remaining at Guantanamo, seven — including Mohammed and his 9/11 co-defendants — face active cases. Two others of the 26 total have been convicted and sentenced by the military commission.
