US court rejects plea deal for '9/11 mastermind' Khalil Sheikh MohammedNewsBusinessInnovationCultureArtsTravelEarthAudioLiveWeatherNewslettersUS court rejects plea deal for '9/11 mastermind' Khalil Sheikh Mohammed17 hours agoShareSaveAli Abbas AhmadiBBC NewsShareSaveReutersKhalid Sheikh Muhammad is accused of organising and directing the 9/11 attacks on the United StatesA divided federal appeals court has thrown out a plea agreement that would have allowed accused "9/11 mastermind" Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other co-defendants to plead guilty in exchange for avoiding the death penalty, US media report. Judges in Washington DC rejected the agreement, which would have given Mohammed and the other defendants a life sentence without parole, in a 2-1 decision on Friday.Mohammed is accused of organising and directing the 11 September 2001 attacks on the US, in which hijacked planes crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, killing almost 3,000 people. He was captured in 2003 and is being held in Guantanamo Bay, the US prison camp in Cuba.Under the deal, families of the 9/11 victims would have been allowed to pose questions to Mohammed, who would be required to "answer their questions fully and truthfully", lawyers said. Relatives of the victims were split on the deal, according to the BBC's US partner CBS News. Those who objected felt a trial was the best path to justice and to uncovering more information about the attacks. Supporters saw it as the best hope for getting some answers and finally closing the painful case.The plea deal was negotiated over two years and approved by military prosecutors and the senior Pentagon official in Guantanamo Bay. Pre-trial hearings have been going on for more than a decade, complicated by questions over whether torture Mohammed and other defendants faced while in US custody taints the evidence.In court with the '9/11 mastermind', two decades after his arrestThe '9/11 mastermind' wants to plead guilty. Why is the US trying to stop him?Following his arrest in Pakistan in 2003, Mohammed spent three years at secret CIA prisons known as "black sites", where he was subjected to simulated drowning, or "waterboarding", 183 times, among other so-called "advanced interrogation techniques" that included sleep deprivation and forced nudity.In July last year, the Biden administration announced it had struck deals with Mohammed and three other co-defendants. But then Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin overruled the agreement two days later, saying he was the sole authority who could enter such an agreement. A military court ruled against Austin's effort in December, which put the agreement to avoid the death penalty back on the table. On Friday, the appeals court tossed the deal, saying Austin was acting within his authority in December 2024. "Having properly assumed the convening authority, the Secretary determined that the 'families and the American public deserve the opportunity to see military commission trials carried out.' The Secretary acted within the bounds of his legal authority, and we decline to second-guess his judgment," judges Patricia Millett and Neomi Rao wrote, as reported by the Associated Press. Judge Robert Wilkins disagreed, saying the government "has not come within a country mile of proving clearly and indisputably that the Military Judge erred."RelatedMore from the BBCBBC in other languagesFollow BBC on:Copyright 2025 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking. , A divided federal appeals court on Friday threw out an agreement that would have allowed accused Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to plead guilty in a deal sparing him the risk of , A divided federal appeals court has thrown out a plea agreement that would have allowed accused "9/11 mastermind" Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other co-defendants to plead guilty in exchange for .