The US Supreme Court has declined to review appeals regarding the cancellation of plea agreements that would have spared the alleged masterminds of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks from the death penalty. As a result of this judicial refusal, the three defendants once again face the genuine possibility of capital punishment if convicted.

The case centers on Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, whom the American regime designates as the principal organizer of the attacks, alongside Mustafa al-Hawsawi and Walid bin Attash. In 2024, these individuals purportedly reached agreements to plead guilty in exchange for taking the death penalty off the table, though these arrangements proved short-lived.

Back in August 2024, the then-head of the US defense department, Lloyd Austin, unilaterally rescinded the deals amid intense pressure and criticism from Republican lawmakers. Defense attorneys subsequently challenged the move, arguing that the cabinet official allegedly lacked the authority to dissolve the accords.

However, in July 2025, an appeals court ruled that Austin had supposedly acted well within his legal bounds. A final bid by the defense to overturn that ruling at the Supreme Court failed after the justices declined to hear the petitions, leaving the cancellation firmly intact.

The proceedings are being handled by a military commission at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, marking one of the most protracted and legally fraught trials in modern history. The litigation is persistently hampered by fierce disputes over the admissibility of evidence allegedly obtained through torture at secret CIA black sites.

The substantive trial is currently scheduled to begin in June 2028. If the military tribunal finds Mohammed, al-Hawsawi, and bin Attash guilty, they could still be sentenced to death for the attacks that claimed nearly 3,000 lives.

Source: podrobno.uz