US top court rejects 9/11 ‘mastermind’ Khalid Sheikh’s plea deal appeal

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Courts differ over authority to revoke agreements

The US Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the accused mastermind of the September 11, 2001, attacks, and two alleged accomplices seeking to revive plea agreements that would have spared them the death penalty.

In an unsigned order, the court declined to overturn a lower court ruling that upheld the Biden administration’s decision to withdraw the agreements in 2024.

The decision leaves the government’s withdrawal in place and allows the military commission proceedings against Mohammed, Mustafa al-Hawsawi and Walid bin Attash to continue.

The agreements, reached in 2024 with military prosecutors and approved by the Pentagon official overseeing military commissions, would have required the three defendants to plead guilty to charges arising from their alleged roles in the September 11 attacks and serve life sentences without parole.

The deals would have removed the possibility of execution for the defendants, who face charges including offences carrying the death penalty.

Then-US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin revoked the agreements shortly after they were announced, arguing that a decision on plea deals in a case of such gravity should rest with the defence secretary.

The defendants challenged the withdrawal, arguing that Austin lacked the authority to rescind agreements that had already been approved.

A military judge ruled in November 2024 that Austin’s decision to invalidate the agreements was unlawful. A military appeals court also found that the defendants had begun fulfilling a condition of the deals and that the agreements could not simply be withdrawn.

However, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit later sided with the government, ruling that Austin had the authority to revoke the agreements.

The Supreme Court’s latest order leaves that appeals court decision in place. Justice Brett Kavanaugh did not participate in the consideration of the case.

Mohammed and his co-defendants were captured in 2003 and formally charged in 2008 before a military commission at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The proceedings have faced years of delays, including legal disputes over whether evidence obtained during interrogations at secret CIA detention facilities can be used in court. The defendants were subjected to what US authorities called “enhanced interrogation techniques”, which have been widely described as torture.

Mohammed is accused of planning and directing the plot to hijack passenger aircraft and crash them into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon. A fourth hijacked plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania after passengers and crew resisted the hijackers.

A trial date has been set for June 2028, subject to the parties meeting procedural deadlines and other requirements.

Relatives of the victims have been divided over the plea agreements. Some have argued that a trial is necessary to establish accountability, while others have viewed the deals as a way to bring a long-running case to a conclusion.

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