9/11 case: US Supreme Court rejects plea deal appeal by alleged mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed

The US Supreme Court on Monday (Oct 19) rejected an appeal by alleged September 11, 2001, attacks mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two co-accused seeking to restore plea deals that would have spared them the death penalty.

Mohammed, Walid bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi reached plea agreements with prosecutors in 2024, during former President Joe Biden's administration. Under the deals, the three men would have pleaded guilty in exchange for life sentences instead of facing possible execution.

However, then-US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin cancelled the agreements following criticism from some victims' families. The decision triggered a legal battle over whether he had the authority to withdraw from the deals.

An appeals court ruled last year that Austin had acted within his legal authority. The Supreme Court declined to hear the defendants' appeal in a brief, unsigned decision, leaving the cancellation of the agreements in place.

The three men remain detained at the US military facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and are scheduled to go on trial in June 2028.

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Who is Khalid Sheikh Mohammed?

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, also known as KSM, is a Pakistani militant whom US prosecutors have identified as the principal operational mastermind behind the September 11 attacks. The attacks, carried out by 19 hijackers in New York, Pennsylvania and near Washington, DC, killed 2,977 people.

Mohammed was a senior al-Qaeda figure under Osama bin Laden before he was captured in Pakistan in March 2003. He was held at secret CIA detention facilities, where he was subjected to harsh interrogation methods, including waterboarding, before being transferred to Guantanamo Bay in 2006.

The case has faced years of legal delays, partly because of questions over whether the defendants can receive a fair trial after being tortured during CIA interrogations.

The Supreme Court's latest decision leaves the three accused facing trial without the plea agreements that would have removed the possibility of the death penalty.