US appeals court throws out plea deal for 'mastermind' of 9/11 attacks
The decision by a panel of the federal appears court based in the capital, Washington DC, undoes an attempt to wrap up more than two decades of military prosecution plagued with legal and logistical problems.
It signals that there will be no quick end to the long struggle by the US military and successive administrations to bring justice to the man charged with planning one of the deadliest attacks ever orchestrated on US soil.
The deal was negotiated over two years and was approved by military prosecutors and senior Pentagon officials charged with overlooking prisoners at the infamous Guantanamo Bay, a year ago, stipulating consecutive life sentences without parole for Mohammed and two other co-defendants.
Mohammed is accused of having developed and directed the plot to crash the hijacked airliners into the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon. Another hijacked plane flew into a field in Pennsylvania.
Relatives of the 11 September attacks, commonly referred to as 9/11, were split on the plea deal. Many objected to it asserting that a trial was the best path towards justice and uncovering more information around the terror incident.
Others saw it as the best hope for bringing the painful case to a close after more than 20 years, and get some answers from the men responsible for the attacks.
The deal would've obligated the men to answer any lingering questions that families of the victims have about the tragic attacks, which according to the US' Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), killed close to 3,000 people.
Then-Defence Secretary under the Biden administration, Lloyd Austin, rejected the deal, saying a decision on the death penalty in an attack as grave as 9/11 should only be made by the defence secretary.
Attorneys for the defendants had argued that the agreement was already legally in effect and that Austin, acted too late to try to throw it out. A military judge at Guantanamo and a military appeals panel agreed with the defence lawyers.
The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, by a 2-1 veto however found that Austin acted within his authority and faulted the military judge's ruling.
The panel had previously put the agreement on hold while it considered the appeal, first filed by the Biden administration and then continued under President Donald Trump.
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