Washington – A military judge has given this decision Plea agreement struck by alleged September 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two co-defendants are valid, void Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin orders termination of dealsa government official said on Wednesday.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the order from the judge, Air Force Col. Matthew McCall, has not yet been publicly posted or officially announced.
Plea agreement will spare Mohammed and others threat of death penalty In exchange for guilty pleas in the long-running 9/11 case. Government prosecutors had negotiated the deals with defense lawyers under government auspices, and they were approved by the top official at the military commission at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Outrage over plea deals for 9/11 defendants
The petition relates to the al-Qaeda attacks of September 11, 2001, which killed nearly 3,000 people, which caused immediate political shock from Republican lawmakers and others when they were announced in late July.
The agreements, and Austin's attempts to overturn them, has been one of the most horrific episodes The US prosecution faced delays and legal difficulties, including several years of pre-trial hearings to determine the admissibility of statements by the defendants in light of years of torture in CIA custody.
Within days of the deals becoming public this summer, Austin issued a brief order saying he was canceling them. Austin said at the time that the plea deal was an important step in potential death penalty cases involving one of the most serious crimes ever committed on American soil, which should only be decided by the Secretary of Defense.
Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary, said the Pentagon is reviewing the judge's decision and had no immediate comment.
The New York Times first reported the decision.
Military officials have not yet posted the judge's decision on the Guantanamo Military Commission's online site.
However, a legal blog that has long covered the prosecution from the Guantanamo courtroom said McCall's 29-page decision concluded that Austin did not have the authority to revoke plea deals.
The decision also called the timing of Austin's move “fatal”, according to the blog LawDragon, given that Guantanamo's top official had already approved the deals.