A military judge has reinstated the plea agreements struck between the U.S. government and alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two others.
Government prosecutors had come to plea agreements with the three alleged terrorists, Mohammed, Walid bin Attash, and Mustafa al-Hawsawi, in July to take the death penalty off the table in exchange for guilty pleas. However, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin later revoked the offer after blowback.
The Pentagon is now reviewing Judge Col. Matthew McCall’s decision, which voided Austin’s order. The ruling has not been published yet, but the New York Times reported that the judge determined Austin lacked the authority to nullify the plea deals.
“As the secretary’s Aug. 2 memo said, the secretary determined that the decision on whether to enter into a pretrial agreement in the 9/11 military commission cases is one of such significance that it was appropriate for responsibility to rest with him as the superior convening authority,” Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder, the Pentagon spokesman, told the Washington Examiner. “We are reviewing the decision and don’t have anything further at this time.”
The plea deal that the parties had agreed upon in July removed the death penalty as a possible punishment, and in exchange, the three individuals would be required to plead guilty to all of the charged offenses, which includes the murder of 2,976 people. They would also have to respond to questions from family members of people affected by the terrorist attacks submitted on a specific website.
There was immediate backlash following the public acknowledgment of the agreement, which would’ve had the masterminds spend the rest of their lives in prison.
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“I have determined that, in light of the significance of the decision to enter into pre-trial agreements with the accused in the above-referenced case, responsibility for such a decision should rest with me as the superior convening authority under the Military Commissions Act of 2009,” Austin wrote in the memo announcing his decision. “Effective immediately, I hereby withdraw your authority in the above-referenced case to enter into a pre-trial agreement and reserve such authority to myself.”
The judge’s ruling is the latest hiccup in the department’s attempt to adjudicate the cases against the 9/11 masterminds, who were allegedly responsible for the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil more than two decades ago.