A military appeals court has ruled against Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin's efforts to throw out the plea deals for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two other defendants charged in the 9/11 attacks, according to a media report.
The appeals court released its ruling on Monday night, according to a US official. The decision puts back on track the agreements that would have the three men plead guilty to one of the deadliest attacks on the US in exchange for being spared the possibility of the death penalty.
Military prosecutors and lawyers for Mr Mohammed, the alleged planner of the attacks that killed about 3,000 people in New York and Washington, and two co-defendants reached the plea agreements after two years of government-approved negotiations. The deals were announced last summer.
Supporters of the plea agreements see them as a way of resolving the legally troubled case against the men at the US military commission at Guantanamo Bay naval base in Cuba. Pretrial hearings for Mr Mohammed, Walid bin Attash and Mustafa Al Hawsawi have been under way for more than a decade.
Within days of news of the plea deal this summer, Mr Austin issued a brief order saying he was nullifying them. He cited the gravity of the 9/11 attacks in saying that as Defence Secretary, he should decide on any plea agreements that would spare the defendants the possibility of a death sentence.
Defence lawyers said Mr Austin had no legal authority to reject a decision already approved by the Guantanamo court's highest authority and said the move amounted to unlawful interference in the case.
Mr Austin now has the option of taking his effort to throw out the plea deals to the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
The news comes after one of the longest-held detainees at Guantanamo was repatriated.
Ridah bin Saleh Al Yazidi's return to Tunisia after being detained in 2002 happened after a “rigorous” inter-agency review process, a Pentagon press release said. Mr Austin told Congress of his support to repatriate Mr Al Yazidi earlier last year.
His repatriation leaves 26 men at Guantanamo. This is down from a peak population of about 700 detained abroad and taken to the prison in the years after 2001.
Three others were repatriated this month. Fourteen await transfer to other countries. Only seven – including Mr Mohammed and his co-defendants – have active cases, while two others have been convicted and sentenced.