The US Department of Defense is challenging the decision of a military judge to reinstate three 9/11 terrorists’ plea deals that guarantee they would be spared the death penalty.
The Pentagon pledged in a Nov. 8 letter to victims’ families that it would fight to delay the guilty plea hearings.
The announcement followed a months-long back-and-forth between the DoD, the Office of Military Commissions (OMC) and attorneys for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed — the accused architect of the al Qaeda attacks — and two alleged co-conspirators, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin Attash and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi.
All three men have been held at the US military prison on the coast of Cuba since 2003.
Their lawyers’ deal with prosecutors sparked outrage on July 31 when military prosecutors confirmed they had entered into pre-trial agreements with the terrorists in which they would plead guilty for their involvement in the attacks in exchange for taking the death penalty off the table.
The decision angered victims’ family members, who had eagerly been awaiting justice for nearly a quarter-century. Many said the death penalty is the only just outcome for the perpetrators of the worst terror attack on US soil in history.
On Aug. 2, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced he was withdrawing the agreements.
The move gave families a glimmer of hope that justice would be served as they’d envisioned, but on Nov. 6 a military judge ruled that Austin lacked the authority to scupper the plea agreements, which he said “remained valid and enforceable.”
In batting away Austin’s decree, the judge granted the motions to enter guilty pleas, writing that subsequent hearings would be announced at a future date.
Now, the Pentagon is fighting the ruling.
“The government intends to seek postponement of any hearings on the pleas and challenge the Commission’s ruling before the U.S. Court of Military Commission Review,” the Defense Department wrote in its letter.
