US military tribunal paves the way for plea deals for 9/11 suspects | September 11 News

A US military appeals court has rejected Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin’s bid to have the pleas of the alleged mastermind behind the September 11, 2001, attacks and two of his associates withdrawn.

The deals could see three men – Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Walid bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi – plead guilty to the attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people. If they exchanged, they would not be sentenced to death.

A hearing on the plea of ​​Mohammed, who is accused of planning the massacre, is expected next week.

The New York Times and the Associated Press both reported late Monday that a military appeals court had ruled in favor of Austin.

The decision upheld an earlier ruling by a military judge, Colonel Matthew McCall, who ruled that Austin did not have the authority to dismiss the complaints following their initial approval.

News of the applications being denied emerged a few months ago. They showed a long-standing violation of the complex use of torture of prisoners that flooded during the so-called “global war on terror”, which was established by the US after the attacks of September 11.

Legal experts say the use of torture – called “enhanced interrogation” by former President George W Bush’s administration – can extend time or prevent convictions.

For example, the revelation that Majid Khan, a former al-Qaeda emissary, was tortured in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) black hole caused a public outcry. The CIA denied the allegations, but Khan’s lawyers described him as being sexually abused, starved and waterboarded.

In 2021, a military jury, made up of eight officers, sentenced Khan to 26 years in prison, the shortest sentence ever. But seven out of eight members of the committee urged the government to be sensitive, given the nature of Khan’s abuse.

Like Khan and the other September 11 defendants, Mohammed and two other defendants were tried by a special military commission established under World War II-era laws that allowed the prosecution of foreign defendants outside the US justice system.

While the Pentagon appointee signed the plea deal, Austin sought to rescind the accords in August amid pressure from lawmakers and family members of the victims, who saw the accords as too lax.

Austin later said he believed the American people deserved a chance to see the tests pass.

Defense attorneys, however, alleged that Austin’s push to withdraw the plea deals represented an illegal interference in the case.

Despite Monday’s decision, Austin can still appeal the case to the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which could cause further delays.

Years of listening

The pre-trial hearings for the three men in the case and the fourth defendant, Ammar al-Baluchi, have lasted more than a decade. Unlike his three co-defendants, al-Baluchi refused to negotiate a settlement.

All four suspects are being held at the Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba.

The military prison has become an enduring symbol of US abuse after the September 11 attacks, with scores of prisoners continuing to be held there without guaranteed rights under US law.

US President Joe Biden’s administration entered office hoping to close the facility permanently, but it remains open as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office on January 20.

Once holding 800 prisoners, the Guantanamo Bay facility housed about 40 people when Biden took office in 2021.

Many have been transferred to second countries, including four in the past two weeks.

One of those includes Tunisian prisoner Ridah bin Saleh al-Yazidi. On Monday, the Pentagon announced that he had been returned to Tunisia.

Despite being approved for extradition more than a decade ago, al-Yazidi was kept in the Guantanamo facility for years, as no agreement was reached with the Tunisian government.

Al-Yazidi, a suspected member of al-Qaeda, had not been charged after being arrested in Pakistan near the Afghan border in 2001.

According to the Pentagon, 26 people are still being held at the Guantanamo Bay facility. Of that group, 14 qualified for the transfer.