Official announcements from the U.S. military commission at Guantanamo Bay

Military Court Reinstates Plea Deals for 9/11 Mastermind and Co-Defendants, Allowing Life Sentences

Dec 31, 2024, 05:33 PM

A military appeals court has ruled against Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's effort to nullify plea deals for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Walid bin Attash, and Mustafa al-Hawsawi, accused of orchestrating the September 11, 2001 attacks. The decision reinstates agreements that would allow the three men to plead guilty in exchange for life sentences, thereby avoiding the death penalty. The plea deals were initially reached after two years of negotiations and were announced last summer. The court's ruling was released on Monday night, according to a U.S. official. The attacks by Al-Qaida killed nearly 3,000 people and helped spur U.S. invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq in what was called the war on terror. The case, which has been ongoing at the U.S. military commission at Guantanamo Bay, has been complicated by allegations of torture during the defendants' early detention by the CIA.