A military appeals court has ruled against Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's effort to throw out the plea deals reached for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two other defendants in the 9/11 attacks, a US official said. The decision puts back on track the agreements that would have the three men plead guilty to one of the deadliest attacks ever on the United States in exchange for being spared the possibility of the death penalty, reports the AP. The military appeals court released its ruling Monday night, according to a US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Military prosecutors and defense attorneys for Mohammed, the accused mastermind of the attacks, and two co-defendants reached the plea agreements late last summer after two years of government-approved negotiations. Supporters of the plea agreement see it as a way of resolving the legally troubled case against the men at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. Pretrial hearings for Mohammed, Walid Bin Attash, and Mustafa al-Hawsawi have been underway for more than a decade. Much of the focus of pretrial arguments has been on how torture of the men while in CIA custody in the first years after their detention may taint the overall evidence in the case.
Within days of news of the plea deals, Austin issued an order saying he was nullifying them. He cited the gravity of the 9/11 attacks in saying that as defense secretary, he should decide on any plea agreements that would spare the defendants the possibility of execution. Defense lawyers said Austin had no legal authority to reject a decision already approved by the Guantanamo court's top authority and said the move amounted to unlawful interference.
story continues below
The military judge hearing the 9/11 case, Air Force Col. Matthew McCall, agreed that Austin lacked standing to throw out the plea bargains after they were underway. That set up the Pentagon's appeal to the military appeals court. Austin now has the option of taking his effort to the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. (A prisoner held at Guantanamo since it opened has just been released.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
