The US Defense Department (DoD) announced on Saturday that it will appeal a military judge’s decision affirming the validity of plea deals for Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, the alleged mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks, and two of his co-defendants. This ruling, issued on Wednesday, effectively overturns Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s prior directive to discard the plea deals between government prosecutors and the defense.
Air Force Col. Matthew McCall ruled on Wednesday that the three 9/11 defendants can formally enter guilty pleas in the US military court at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, potentially shielding them from the death penalty. With the judge’s approval of their motions to plead guilty, the deals will now move forward, awaiting a date to be set by the military commission.
This move allows Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, Walid bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi to take a crucial step toward resolving a case that has faced extensive legal challenges since the 9/11 attacks that claimed nearly 3,000 lives.
The plea deals, initially approved by the top official overseeing the Guantanamo military commission, were negotiated between government prosecutors and defense attorneys. When these agreements surfaced this summer, they quickly drew strong opposition from Republican lawmakers and others. Within days, Secretary Austin responded by issuing an order to withdraw the plea deals.
Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), whose organization represents Khalid Sheikh Mohammad and the two other defendants, criticized the Defense Department’s decision to appeal Wednesday’s ruling. Romero stated, “Secretary Austin’s order to appeal the military judge’s ruling – after the Secretary wrongly tried to revoke valid plea deals and sideline his convening authority – is nothing more than doubling down on wrong decisions. This move reverts to the original, fatal flaws of the military commissions: leaders who will stop at nothing to put their hands on the scales of justice to try and get the outcome they want.”
Pre-trial proceedings for Sheikh Mohammed and his co-defendants are scheduled to take place early next year, between January 20-31. The proceedings will take place at the Expeditionary Legal Complex in Guantanamo Bay, where the three defendants are currently incarcerated, and will be live-streamed to a closed-circuit television site in Maryland.
