Plea deal for 9/11 mastermind reinstated by U.S. military court may spare terrorists death penalty

A military court has upheld a deal negotiated by the commission set up to prosecute the 9/11 terrorists, rebuffing attempts by the Biden administration to block the deals.

The reinstated deals would spare the accused the death penalty in return for guilty pleas in the 9/11 murders, according to the military tribunal’s website.

The original plea deal was first hinted at in August 2023 to the families of the victims of the 9/11 attacks in a letter from the commission, but few other details of the deal have been announced publicly, reported the Associated Press, which obtained a copy of the letter. 

Then in July 2024, the commission announced that “pretrial agreements with Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin ‘Attash, and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi” had been finalized. 

“In exchange for removal of the death penalty as a possible punishment, these three Accused have agreed to plead guilty to all of the charged offenses, including the murder of the 2,976 people listed in the charge sheet,” said a letter sent to victims’ families, signed by Rear Adm. Aaron C. Rugh, chief prosecutor for the commission, reported the New York Post. 

There has been no public assurance that the 9/11 terrorists will serve life without the possibility of release. 

The ensuing uproar by Americans shocked that the 9/11 terrorists would be spared capital punishment forced current Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to attempt to revoke the deals just a few days later. 

The military judge overseeing the case, however, ruled Tuesday on behalf of the terrorists that Austin has no standing to change the deals, said the AP.  

The New York Post’s print edition at the time the deals were announced in July headlined the announcement as an “Atrocity of Justice.” 

According to President Joe Biden, the White House had no role in the negotiations, which were approved by a military commission member appointed by Austin last summer as the deals were first being leaked, said National Public Radio.  

However, U.S. Rep. Mike Lawler, R-New York, whose district was greatly affected by the terror attacks, accused Biden of abdicating responsibility. 

“This is an abomination. The fact that Joe Biden allowed these plea deals to happen on his watch is unforgivable,” said Lawler on X. “Nearly 3,000 families will never be the same because of 9/11 – they have the right to see those responsible for their suffering face the death penalty.” 

And for Brett Eagleson, who was 15 when he lost his father to the 9/11 attacks, the deal is a betrayal by the U.S. government of the victims and their families. 

Eagleson, who runs the advocacy group 9/11 Justice, believes the government is trying to hide the truth about 9/11 and those who orchestrated it, which he believes includes prominent Saudi royal family members. 

“My question is to the prosecution,” he asked, according to USAToday. “Why are you blocking us and helping our sworn enemy? … I don’t care what these detainees say, I care about why our government isn’t helping us.” 

Eagleson called Khalid Sheikh Mohammad a “trained manipulator and liar” and said anything the terrorist says is simply to cover for co-conspirators, reported USAToday. 

A consortium of news groups has filed to get the military court to unseal the records regarding the case, including negotiations. 

Austin’s next option would be to appeal the decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, said the AP.  

But getting the case decided in regular courts versus military courts could bring new headaches, with a possible public trial and the opportunity for the defendants to use the mechanisms of a criminal trial to spread militant Islamic ideology.  

Analysts said previously that handling the prosecutions in regular U.S. criminal courts raises the possibility that the defendants could be released because of the alleged use of torture to coerce confessions from the accused might force an acquittal. 

For years, former President Barack Obama championed the use of U.S. criminal courts to try 9/11 defendants rather than using the military tribunes.   

Obama’s White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said at the time the president’s greatest concern was to bring the terrorist to trial as “fairly as possible,” according to ABC News.    

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, introduced legislation that would block the plea deals, re-introduce the possibility of a death penalty sentence, and make sure the terrorist are permanently kept in captivity at Guantanamo Bay, without being transferred to another country. 

“Giving a plea deal to the terrorist masterminds behind 9/11 is disgraceful and an insult to the victims of the attacks, as well as those who served to avenge them,” said Cotton in a statement. “These monsters should have faced justice decades ago; instead, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are setting the stage to let them go free. My bill will stop this travesty.”