US Military Appeals Court Says Plea Agreements Related to September 11 Attacks May Continue By Reuters

Written by Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. military appeals court ruled that plea agreements involving the man accused of masterminding the September 11, 2001, attacks and two of his accomplices can stand after Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin earlier moved to invalidate the agreements.

In August, Austin canceled plea deals the Pentagon had struck with the trio, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

In November, a US military judge ruled that Austin had acted too late to cancel the plea agreements and that they were still in effect. An order issued by the US Military Court of Appeals late Monday upheld that ruling.

The Pentagon declined to comment. She previously said that Austin was surprised by the plea agreements and that the minister was not consulted because the process is independent.

Under the agreements, the three men could plead guilty to the attacks in exchange for not facing the death penalty.

Muhammad is the most widely known prisoner at the US detention facility known as Guantanamo Bay on the coast of Cuba. It was established in 2002 by then US President George W. Bush to detain suspected foreign nationals following the September 11 attacks on the United States.

Muhammad is accused of masterminding a plot to fly hijacked passenger planes into the World Trade Center in New York City and into the Pentagon. The September 11 attacks, as they are known, killed nearly 3,000 people and plunged the United States into a two-decade war in Afghanistan.

Human rights experts, including at the United Nations, have condemned torture at Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere during the so-called war on terror and demanded an apology from Washington. Former President Barack Obama admitted in 2014 that the United States was involved in torture, saying it was “contrary to our values.”

Separately, the Pentagon said on Monday that Reda bin Saleh al-Yazidi, one of the longest-serving detainees at Guantanamo Bay, had been returned from the detention center to his native Tunisia. He was detained without charge for more than 20 years.

The Pentagon said 26 detainees remain at the facility, including 14 eligible for transfer.