The alleged mastermind behind the 9/11 terror attacks is fighting the Biden administration's bid to back out of plea deal, according to a court filing.
Lawyers for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and one co-defendant on Wednesday filed a document at the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia requesting that the administration's request to renege on a plea deal be denied.
The current administration is waging a last-minute fight to block a plea deal for Mohammed and two co-defendants that would spare them the risk of the death penalty. The Defense Department oversaw negotiation of the plea agreement but later repudiated it.
The Justice Department on Tuesday filed a motion asking the court to prohibit the war tribunal in Guantanamo Bay from moving forward with the plea agreements negotiated last summer, CBS News reported.
Absent a stay from that court or some other intervention, Mohammed is due to enter his guilty plea Friday. Family members of Sept. 11 victims are already at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo to watch.
Defense attorneys quickly responded with their response.
"There is no precedent for such extraordinary relief," Mohammed's attorneys wrote in their filing. "This Court lacks jurisdiction to grant such extraordinary relief. And even if it could grant such extraordinary relief, the government's petition fails to satisfy any of the conditions that this Court rigorously applies in mandamus cases."
The attorneys also claimed the plea deal, which they say includes a sentencing proceeding that will last months, will perform a public service for victims' families.
"In that proceeding, which will be open to the public, a military jury (the 'members') will take evidence, hear testimony from the victims, and impose any punishment up to life imprisonment," they wrote.
"Under this pretrial agreement, the victims will also have a unique opportunity to pose direct questions to Respondent and his co-defendants, who must – on pain of losing the benefits of the pretrial agreement – answer their questions fully and truthfully."
With the prosecution in the Sept. 11 attack dragging on for decades and no conclusion in sight, military prosecutors this summer notified families of the victims that the senior Pentagon official overseeing Guantanamo had approved a plea deal after more than two years of negotiations.
The deal was "the best path to finality and justice," military prosecutors told families then.
Mohammed and co-defendants Walid bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi agreed to plead guilty to 2,976 murder charges in exchange for life sentences. Other conditions included that the men would answer family members' lingering questions about the attack. A clause in Mohammed's plea deal bars prosecutors from seeking the death penalty again if the plea deal is scrapped, as long as Mohammed was abiding by its terms.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has fought unsuccessfully since Aug. 2 to throw out the plea agreement negotiated and approved by his department. He argues that a decision on death penalties in an attack as grave as Sept. 11 should only be made by the defense secretary.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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