The accused mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, has agreed to let government prosecutors use portions of a 2007 confession that he says were obtained through his torture at any sentencing trial if his case is settled with a life sentence. Defense lawyers have tried to have those confessions excluded from the death-penalty trial against Mohammed and three other men accused of plotting the attacks. Lawyers argued that he was conditioned to answer his captors’ questions in a secret CIA. prison where he was waterboarded, beaten and subjected to rectal abuse. A newly released excerpt from his plea deal shows that Mohammed agreed that prosecutors can use certain portions of his disputed confessions against him at a sentencing trial if he is allowed to plead guilty, reports the New York Times.
On July 31, after more than a decade of litigation, a senior Pentagon appointee signed agreements with Mohammed, Walid bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi to settle their capital case in exchange for their giving up the right to appeal their convictions and challenge evidence. Those deals were submitted to a military judge, under seal. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin moved to withdraw from the deals, saying he wanted the men to face trial, The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has scheduled arguments for Jan. 28 on whether the other three defendants’ plea deals can go forward. The case was brought on Austin’s behalf by Biden administration appointees at the Justice Department who will leave the job on Monday. The Trump administration has not signaled how it will deal with the plea agreements. A military judge has said that if the circuit court resolves the case in favor of the pleas, he could hold proceedings in February. If the deal falls apart, the defense lawyers would go back to trying to keep the confessions out of the trial.
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