The 9/11 guilty pleas were delayed after government opposition

The US government has managed to temporarily block the guilty plea of ​​the accused 9/11 mastermind amid a dispute over the terms of a pretrial agreement.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two co-defendants reached deals last summer to plead guilty to all charges in exchange for facing a death penalty trial.

In a filing with a federal appeals court, the government argued that upholding the claims would cause irreparable harm.

A three-judge panel said they needed more time to consider the case and dropped the proceedings. They emphasized that the delay “should not be understood in any way” in the substance of the case.

It comes after a military judge and appeals panel rejected an earlier move by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. cancel the agreementswhich was signed by a high official appointed by him.

Nearly 3,000 people were killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks, when hijackers took passenger planes and crashed them into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon outside Washington. Another plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania after passengers fought back.

The three men have been in US custody for more than 20 years and their pre-trial hearings have lasted more than a decade.

The arguments focused on whether the evidence was tainted by the torture the defendants suffered in CIA custody after their arrests.

Mohammed was subjected to simulated drowning, or “waterboarding”, 183 times after his arrest in 2003 while in secret CIA prisons. Other so-called “advanced interrogation” techniques included sleep deprivation and forced nudity.

Families of some of those killed in the 9/11 attacks criticized the deals as too lenient or lacking in transparency, while others saw it as a way to move forward in a long and complex case.

Those who had traveled to the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba to watch Mohammed plead guilty were speaking to reporters when they learned of the delay.

“The US government failed the 9/11 families again. They had an opportunity to do the right thing and they chose not to,” said Tom Resta, whose brother, sister-in-law and unborn child were killed in the attacks.

The government argued that going forward with the deal would “deny the possibility of seeking the death penalty against three men accused of a horrific act of mass murder that left thousands dead and shocked the nation and the world.”

“A short delay by this court in assessing the merits of the government’s petition in this important case will not prejudice the respondents,” he said.

In their response, Mohammed’s team said the deal offered “the first chance for real closure” in nearly a quarter of a century. He said the impeachment negotiations, which took place over two years, “directly involved the White House.”

In its decision on Thursday afternoon, the Federal Court of Appeal said its decision was aimed at giving judges time to be fully briefed and hear arguments “in an expeditious manner”.

That delay means the issue will be left to the incoming Trump administration.

Full details of the deals reached with Mohammed and two of his co-defendants have not been released.

In a court hearing at Guantanamo Bay on Wednesday, his legal team confirmed that he had agreed to plead guilty to all charges.

If the deals are approved and the court accepts the claims, the next step would be to appoint a military jury, known as a grand jury, to hear the evidence in a sentencing hearing.

In court Wednesday, lawyers described it as a public hearing where survivors and family members of the dead would have the opportunity to testify.

Under the agreement, the families would also be able to ask Mohammadi questions, and he would have to “answer their questions fully and truthfully,” the lawyers said.