A military judge has ruled that plea agreements reached with three men accused of plotting the September 11, 2001, attacks are valid, effectively overturning a decision by the US Defense Secretary, Al Jazeera reports.
Air Force Colonel Matthew McCall, the judge presiding over the case at Guantanamo Bay, determined that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin lacked the legal authority to rescind the agreements reached earlier this year. The agreements, signed in August, would have seen Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, and two alleged accomplices, Walid bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi, face life sentences instead of the death penalty.
Austin had revoked the deals two days after they were signed, citing concerns about their implications. However, Judge McCall ruled that while Austin could supervise the plea deal process, he could not unilaterally nullify them.
The judge’s decision now clears the path for the three defendants to enter their pleas in court. A timetable for these hearings has yet to be set.
The Pentagon is reviewing the judge’s decision and has not yet commented publicly. Similarly, prosecutors have also remained silent on the ruling.
Mohammed and four other individuals were indicted in 2012 for their alleged roles in the 9/11 attacks, which claimed nearly 3,000 lives. The cases have been hampered by years of legal battles surrounding the CIA’s torture of the defendants.
The legal proceedings are expected to continue for a significant period even if verdicts and sentences are reached. A US court of appeals will likely review several issues surrounding the case, including the CIA’s destruction of interrogation videos.
Mohammed, once considered one of Osama bin Laden’s closest confidants, was captured in Pakistan in 2003 and held in secret CIA prisons for three years before being transferred to Guantanamo in 2006. Bin Attash, alleged to have trained two of the hijackers, was captured alongside Mohammed and also endured a period in secret CIA prisons. Al-Hawsawi, suspected of managing the finances for the 9/11 attacks, was arrested in 2003 and held in secret detention before arriving at Guantanamo in 2006.
The case against the defendants, including a fourth defendant, Ammar al-Baluchi, who has not reached a plea deal, continues to move forward. The fifth defendant, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, was declared incompetent to stand trial or plead in September 2022.
A forensic psychiatrist is scheduled to testify on Thursday about the defendants’ 2007 confessions, addressing whether they were made voluntarily or under duress after years of detention in secret CIA prisons.
