The US Supreme Court declined on 19 October 2026 to hear appeals from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two co-defendants, Mustafa al Hawsawi and Walid bin 'Atash, who had asked the justices to revive their 2024 plea agreements. Under those deals the government would not have sought the death penalty in exchange for guilty pleas, life sentences without parole and a waiver of appeal rights. The plot Mohammed is accused of developing and directing sent hijacked airliners into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, while another crashed into a field in Pennsylvania, killing nearly 3,000 people 25 years ago. The order arrived on a routine orders list, with no written reasoning and no public dissents. It also noted that Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh did not take part, although the justices are not required to give a reason for recusal. With the appeals refused, a federal appeals ruling stands and a capital trial remains possible.
Military prosecutors approved the plea agreements, as did the Pentagon official overseeing the Guantanamo war court, before then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin stepped in. Austin voided the deals in 2024, two days after that official had accepted them, saying a decision on the death penalty in a case as grave as 9/11 should belong only to the defense secretary. The move drew criticism from Republican lawmakers, and the reversal followed quickly after a backlash. Defense attorneys argued that Austin had acted too late, but a divided appeals panel found he acted within his authority. The Supreme Court's refusal leaves that ruling in place.
The case has been stuck in military proceedings for two decades. In July 2025 a 2-1 panel of the D.C. Circuit backed Austin's authority to withdraw from the deals, stating:
“Austin indisputably had legal authority to withdraw from the agreements.”
In August 2026 a US Air Force judge set the trial of Mohammed and his co-defendants for June 2028. Military justice ruled in August 2026 that Mohammed's confessions were inadmissible, and the proceedings had stalled over whether evidence obtained through torture could be used against the men.
Mohammed, a Pakistani raised in Kuwait, served as a senior lieutenant to Osama bin Laden in al-Qaeda until his capture in Pakistan in March 2003. He remains in custody at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and is due to be tried with three other accused: Walid bin 'Atash, Mustafa al Hawsawi and Ammar al-Baluchi, also known as Ali Abdul Aziz Ali. Le Soir noted that Mohammed had been held in CIA secret prisons, including one in Poland, where he was interrogated under torture before being moved to Guantanamo in September 2006. The four men are among the last detainees at the base and have never been tried.
Relatives of the Sept. 11 victims were split on the agreements. Some said a trial is the best path to justice, while others saw a deal as the best hope of bringing the long, painful case to a conclusion. Defense lawyers, including attorneys from the American Civil Liberties Union, urged the Supreme Court to hear the case, arguing that Austin's action violated controlling military law and cut short what they called the best chance for finality in 25 years. Mohammed remains in custody while the case moves toward its June 2028 trial date.
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The US Supreme Court declined on 19 October 2026 to hear appeals from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two co-defendants seeking to restore plea deals that would have spared them the death penalty.
AI text based on reports by The New York Times, Le Soir, ΣΚΑΪ and other publishers. Published .