A federal court blocked Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the accused mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, from entering a plea deal Friday, granting an 11th-hour Biden administration request and ensuring the case continues into the incoming Trump administration. The decision marks the latest twist in the 22-year saga since Mohammed was captured in 2003, moved to the military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, in 2006, and charged in its special war court in 2008 and again in 2011. The case has yet to go to trial, mired in bureaucratic and legal battles that include questions about the admissibility of evidence obtained through torture, reports the Washington Post. Instead, the beleaguered case, like the notorious prison that houses him, has become a symbol — to frustrated victims’ families, human rights attorneys, and U.S. officials alike — of the botched pursuit of justice since the terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people. On July 31, U.S. military prosecutors reached a deal with Mohammed and two other defendants that would secure a guilty plea in exchange for lifetime sentences, removing the possibility of the death penalty.
The news angered victims’ families, Republican lawmakers and New York City’s firefighters union. Two days later, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin canceled the agreement, setting off a new series of court deliberations over whether the plea hearings can proceed and who has the authority to stop them. The judge in Guantánamo, Col. Matthew N. McCall, determined in November that Austin’s attempt to rescind the plea deals had come too late and was invalid; a ruling upheld last month by a Pentagon appeals panel. The Biden administration, pushing for Austin’s decision to override the others, asked for more time. On Thursday, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit stayed Mohammed’s plea until further notice while it weighs an emergency appeal by the Justice Department and the solicitor general’s office. The court gave both sides until Jan. 22 to file written arguments.
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