A U.S. Military Appeals Court Upholds Plea Deals for 9/11 Mastermind and Accomplices
A U.S. military appeals court has ruled that plea deals related to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the man accused of masterminding the 9/11 attacks, and two accomplices can proceed after Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had earlier moved to invalidate the agreements.
In August, Austin rescinded plea deals that the Pentagon had entered into with the trio, including Mohammed. However, a U.S. military judge ruled in November that Austin acted too late on revoking the plea deals and that they were still valid. The order by the U.S. military appeals court upholding that ruling was made public on Monday.
Under the deals, it is possible that the three men could plead guilty to the attacks and in exchange not face the death penalty. Mohammed is the most widely known inmate at the U.S. detention facility known as Guantanamo Bay on the coast of Cuba.
The Pentagon declined to comment on the ruling. The facility was set up in 2002 by then-U.S. President George W. Bush to detain foreign militant suspects following the 9/11 attacks on the United States.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon announced on Monday that Ridah Bin Saleh Al-Yazidi, one of the longest-held detainees at Guantanamo Bay, was repatriated from the detention facility to his home country of Tunisia. He was held without charge for over 20 years.