The Biden administration asked a federal appeals court Tuesday to block a plea deal for accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two co-defendants that would spare them the risk of the death penalty.
The Justice Department argued in a brief filed with a federal appeals court in the District of Columbia that the government would suffer irreparable harm if the guilty pleas were accepted. He said the government would be denied the opportunity for a public trial and the opportunity to “seek the death penalty against three men accused of a heinous act of massacre that caused the deaths of thousands and shocked the nation and the world.”
The Guantanamo Bay military judge and a military appeals board rejected Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s attempt to overturn the plea deal, saying he had no authority to do so after the top official of the Pentagon for Guantanamo approved it in July.
Mohammed was expected to plead guilty on Friday and his two co-defendants next week.
The Justice Department filing, on the other hand, indicates that the defendants would not be harmed by a short delay, given that the prosecution has been ongoing since 2012 and that the plea deals would likely result in them serving lengthy prison sentences. prison, potentially for the rest of their lives. .
“A short delay to allow this Court to evaluate the merits of the government’s request in this momentous case will not cause material harm to Defendants,” the government argued.