Plea Deals for 9/11 Mastermind and Co-Defendants Delayed Amid Government Objections

The U.S. government's intervention has stalled the guilty pleas of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two co-defendants, who had reached agreements to avoid the death penalty in a case that continues to evoke strong emotions among victims' families.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the September 11 terror attacks, will not be entering guilty pleas as originally scheduled for Friday, following a motion from the U.S. government aimed at halting previously established plea agreements. Mohammed, along with two co-defendants, had reached these deals in July, intending to plead guilty to all charges in return for avoiding a death penalty trial.

In a filing with a federal court, the justice department asserted that the acceptance of these plea deals would cause "irreparable harm" to the government. Consequently, the court has decided to pause the proceedings, stating it requires additional time to assess the government's claims. It remains undecided whether Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin possesses the authority to retract the plea arrangements, which had been endorsed by a senior official appointed by him.

The ruling follows an earlier rejection by both a military judge and an appeals panel of Austin's attempts to withdraw the agreements. Families of some victims from the 9/11 attacks expressed their dissatisfaction with the plea deals, deeming them overly lenient, while others advocated for the arrangements as a necessary step towards advancing this complicated and protracted case.

The government contended that moving forward with the plea agreements would preclude it from pursuing capital punishment against the three accused men, all charged with orchestrating a "heinous act of mass murder" which resulted in the deaths of almost 3,000 people and sent shockwaves across the globe.

The attacks on September 11, 2001, unfolded when terrorists hijacked planes and crashed them into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., with a fourth plane crashing in Pennsylvania after passengers attempted to overpower the hijackers. The three defendants have been detained in U.S. custody for over two decades, with pre-trial hearings extending over a lengthy ten-year period.

Critical discussions have revolved around whether the evidence obtained from the defendants was compromised due to the torture they endured during CIA custody post-arrest. Mohammed was subjected to simulated drowning, known as "waterboarding," and endured other "enhanced interrogation techniques" like sleep deprivation and forced nudity.

Many family members of the 9/11 victims voiced concerns about the leniency of the plea deals, with Terry Strada, who lost her husband in the attacks, condemning the agreements as catering to the Guantanamo detainees' wishes. In contrast, others like Stephan Gerhardt, who lost his brother in the attacks, expressed frustration over ongoing delays but accepted the plea deals as a necessary means to progress. He stressed the urgency of reaching a conviction, stating that allowing the defendants to die without formal judgment would represent a greater moral failure.