Court Reverses Defense Secretary's Nullification of 9/11 Plea Deals

In a surprising turn of events, a military appeals court has overturned Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's order to scrap plea deals made with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two other defendants involved in the 9/11 attacks. This decision reinstates the agreements that would see the men plead guilty in exchange for avoiding the death penalty. The brutal attacks by al-Qaida on September 11, 2001, left nearly 3, 000 people dead and sparked the U. S. invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq under the Bush administration. The ruling came late on Monday night, according to a U. S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity. Military prosecutors and defense attorneys had spent two years negotiating these deals, which were announced last summer. Supporters of the plea agreement view it as a solution to the complex legal challenges faced by the case at the Guantanamo Bay military commission. A significant point of contention in the pretrial phase has been the alleged torture of the defendants during their initial detention by the CIA. This raises questions about the admissibility of evidence gathered during that time. Following the announcement of the plea deals, Austin quickly issued an order nullifying them, citing the severity of the 9/11 attacks. Defense lawyers argued that Austin lacked the legal authority to overturn decisions already approved by the Guantanamo court's top authority. This led to a dispute that ultimately reached the military appeals court. The military judge overseeing the 9/11 case, Air Force Col. Matthew McCall, had previously agreed that Austin did not have the standing to invalidate the plea bargains once they were in progress. This set the stage for the Defense Department's appeal to the higher court. With this latest ruling, Austin has the option to escalate the matter to the U. S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, but there has been no immediate indication of the Pentagon's next steps.