Judge revives plea deal for 9/11 suspects

This could mean life sentences for Mohammed, Walid bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi, who have been awaiting trial at Guantánamo Bay for 12 years

(Image credit: Michelle Shephard / Pool via Bloomberg)

What happened

A military judge Wednesday ruled that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had exceeded his authority and acted too late when he canceled plea deals for three accused 9/11 conspirators, including alleged mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. The restoration of the plea deals, negotiated over two years and signed off by retired Gen. Susan Escallier, could mean life sentences for Mohammed, Walid bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi, who have been awaiting trial at Guantánamo Bay since 2012.

Who said what

Austin appointed Escallier as the senior official overseeing military commissions, then fired her after the deal. But she "possessed the legal authority" to sign the "enforceable contracts" between the government and the three defendants, Col. Matthew McCall wrote in his unreleased ruling, according to The New York Times. Austin could have stepped in earlier to oversee the case, the judge wrote, but he could not "delegate authority" to Escallier, "recognize her independent discretion, then reverse that discretion" when he did not like how she used it.

"We are reviewing the decision," said Pentagon spokesperson Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder. Families of some 9/11 victims are "adamant" the prosecutions "continue until trial and possible death sentences," The Associated Press said. But "legal experts say it's not clear that could ever happen," given the inadmissibility of evidence obtained through torture and other issues that have kept the case in pretrial hearings for 12 years. "Getting some kind of deal is better" than endless delay, terrorism expert Peter Bergen said to CNN.

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What next?

Pretrial hearings for Ammar al-Baluchi, a fourth defendant who did not agree to plead guilty, resume at Guantánamo Bay today. A fifth defendant, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, was "found incompetent to stand trial or reach a plea agreement," the AP said.

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.