Military judge overrules defense secretary and says plea deals for alleged 9/11 conspirators are valid

A military judge ruled on Wednesday that plea agreements between the alleged 9/11 conspirators at Guantanamo Bay and the US government are “valid and enforceable,” a defense official told CNN – roughly three months after Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin revoked the deals.

A military judge ruled on Wednesday that plea agreements between the alleged 9/11 conspirators at Guantanamo Bay and the US government are “valid and enforceable,” a defense official told CNN – roughly three months after Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin revoked the deals. The ruling allows for the plea deals to go forward and could mean the men will eventually be sentenced to life in prison and avoid death sentences. The US reached a plea deal with alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two other defendants accused of plotting the attacks in July after more than two years of negotiations. But just days later, Austin revoked the plea deals and yanked responsibility from the convening authority for military commissions who runs the military courts at Guantanamo. “Part of his ruling was not only are they legal and enforceable,” the defense official told CNN, “but that [Austin] was too late in doing that.” Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said Wednesday that as Austin’s memo said in August, “the Secretary determined that the decision on whether to enter into a pretrial agreement in the 9/11 military commission cases is one of such significance that it was appropriate for responsibility to rest with him as the superior convening authority.” “We are reviewing the decision and don’t have anything further at this time,” Ryder said in a statement.