The Biden Administration is asking a federal appeals court to temporarily block a plea deal agreement with three detainees in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, including 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, which would see the defendants avoid the death penalty. The plea deal was reached over the summer and approved by the top official of the Guantánamo military commission, but the Pentagon revoked it in July. The government is arguing that the military commission judge intends to enforce pretrial plea agreements that will deprive the government and the American people of a public trial as to the respondents’ guilt and the possibility of capital punishment.
The plea deal would see the defendants enter guilty pleas without facing a public trial, and would likely mean they would receive life sentences instead of the death penalty. A number of 9/11 victims and US politicians have condemned the plea deal, with Vice President-elect JD Vance calling it a “sweetheart deal” for the terrorists.
The government’s appeal is based on the argument that the military commission judge does not have the authority to enforce the pretrial plea agreements, and that the Secretary of Defense has lawfully withdrawn those agreements. The appeal also notes that once the military commission accepts the guilty pleas, there is likely no way to return to the status quo, and that the government and the public will lose the opportunity for a public trial as to the respondents’ guilt and to seek capital punishment.
The three prisoners were set to enter their pleas as early as Friday at the military prison, but the appeal is seeking to block the process. The outcome of the appeal is uncertain, but the Biden administration is hoping to prevent the military commission from enforcing the plea deal and ensuring that the defendants face a public trial and the possibility of capital punishment.