<p><img src="/gcdn/authoring/authoring-images/2025/01/11/USAT/77612129007-20160531-t-120000-z-1454671012-tm-3-ec-5-v-17-nk-01-rtrmadp-3-usaguantanamo.JPG?crop=3499,1968,x0,y270&width=660&height=371&format=pjpg&auto=webp" width="100%" /><p>A federal judge put a plea deal on ice that would have enabled the <a href="/story/news/politics/2024/07/31/911-mohammed-guantanamo-attacks-guilty/74626220007/">mastermind behind the 9/11</a> attacks to avoid the death penalty and bring closure to families who have sought justice for over two decades.</p><p>Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two of his top al-Qaeda lieutenants were set to admit to planning the terrorist attacks in exchange for life in prison this month. The plea deal would have effectively ended over 20 years of wrangling and closed the book on one of America's most infamous legal chapters.</p><p>Families of those <a href="/story/news/nation/2024/08/01/911-guilty-plea-case-closed-on-terrorist-attacks/74636636007/">who lost loved ones</a> in the attacks, reporters and others had all flown on a special charter flight from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland to hear the trio admit guilt in person at a military court at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where they’ve languished for years. </p><p>Instead, on Thursday, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered an administrative stay on the case. The stay gives the court more time to review the issue before deciding if the deals can proceed. It’s unclear how long the review will take. It comes a day after attorneys for Mohammed, often called KSM, and lieutenants Mustafa al Hawsawi and Walid Bin Attash had told a judge that their clients were fully prepared to plead guilty.</p><p>“That was really remarkable to see he’s willing to do that,” said <a href="/story/news/nation/2023/09/11/girl-whose-father-died-911-attacks-studied-terrorism/70824009007/">Elizabeth Miller</a> of Mohammed’s commitment to plead guilty this week. Miller <a href="/story/news/nation/2023/09/11/girl-whose-father-died-911-attacks-studied-terrorism/70824009007/">lost her father, Douglas Miller</a>, a firefighter in 9/11. “It was just unfortunate that it’s not legally binding and then we had the stay, so it’s back to total pause.” The family members will have to return home with the case still up in the air.</p><p>The court’s stay on the case is not the first delay to happen. The plea agreements have been hotly contested since they were announced at the end of July. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin quickly <a href="/story/news/nation/2024/08/02/plea-deal-for-911-mastermind-rejected-death-penalty-back-on-table/74655022007/">moved to scrap</a> the deals. A judge had ruled the <a href="/story/news/nation/2024/11/10/911-attacks-families-question-terrorists/75957250007/">deals could proceed</a> in November. </p><p>Many family members of victims and political leaders have also <a href="/story/news/nation/2024/08/01/911-guilty-plea-case-closed-on-terrorist-attacks/74636636007/">vociferously opposed</a> the plea deals, saying the trio deserve to die. </p><p>“Taking the death penalty off the table was outrageous,” said Terry Strada whose husband Tom died on the 104th floor of the World Trade Center’s North Tower on 9/11. “They murdered nearly 3,000 Americans on American soil.”</p><p>Attorneys for the al-Qaeda operatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment. </p><p>In court filings responding to the stay, they decried the pause in proceedings.</p><p>“The government’s plea for this Court’s eleventh-hour intervention is profoundly contrary to the interest of justice,” the attorneys wrote. “The victims, the defendants, and American people deserve finality in a case that has hung open for a quarter century. They deserve their long delayed day in court.”</p><img width="100%" /><p><strong>Question of a lifetime:</strong><a href="/story/news/nation/2024/11/10/911-attacks-families-question-terrorists/75957250007/">Families prepare to confront 9/11 masterminds</a></p><h2>Long wait for justice</h2><p>Justice feels long overdue for those who lost loved ones in 9/11 and many view the plea agreements as the only way to proceed. The torture the men experienced at the hands of CIA operatives has made some evidence against them <a href="/story/opinion/voices/2023/09/08/september-11-trial-guantanamo-plea-deal-victims-families-justice/70776223007/">inadmissible in court</a>.</p><p>Miller was among 10 family members of victims to take the special charter flight down to the base in Cuba to hear proceedings. She and many others were also hoping to get a chance to ask Mohammed and the others <a href="/story/news/nation/2024/11/10/911-attacks-families-question-terrorists/75957250007/">questions about the terrorist strikes</a> as part of the guilty plea agreements. </p><p>“I thought I would get to hear the man who came up with the plan to kill my dad, the man responsible for the idea to kill all these people, admit guilt,” she told USA TODAY. “I thought I would hear that from his mouth.”</p><p>It’s expected the court will not make any further decisions regarding the case until at least next month, said Ron Flesvig, a spokesperson for the Office of Military Commissions. The case will instead be left to the incoming administration of <a href="/news/politics/donald-trump/">President-elect Donald Trump</a>. </p><p>“That could derail this even further, which is disheartening,” Miller said. “It’s so frustrating and sad that it’s almost comical because if you can't laugh at some dysfunction you would just sit and cry.”</p><img width="100%" /><h2>What did KSM and the others do?</h2><p>Mohammed’s planned attacks on the Twin Towers, the Pentagon and attempt to hit the Capitol building were the crowning achievements of a prolific terrorist career. </p><p>“The Hunt for KSM” by journalists Terry McDermott and Josh Meyer compiles an extensive list of the Kuwait-raised terrorist’s activities where he had a direct hand in the plots or at least directed funding to them. The prolific terrorist directed Richard Reid the <a href="https://www.fbi.gov/history/artifacts/richard-reids-shoes">Shoe Bomber’s plot</a>; it’s expected he was connected to the <a href="https://www.911memorial.org/connect/blog/today-marks-11th-anniversary-2004-madrid-terrorist-attack">2004 bombings in Madrid</a> that killed 191 people; helped fund the 2002 <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/2002-Bali-Bombings">bombings in Bali</a> that killed 202 people; masterminded the 2002 <a href="https://ctc.westpoint.edu/fifteen-years-after-the-djerba-synagogue-bombing/">bombing of a synagogue</a> in Tunisia that killed 19; and he horrifically murdered American Wall Street Journal correspondent Daniel Pearl by decapitation.</p><p>Hawsawi, a citizen of Saudi Arabia, helped launder money to the hijackers from the United Arab Emirates, according to McDermott and Meyer’s book. He was captured with Mohammed in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, in 2003. </p><p>Bin Attash hoped to be a hijacker but failed to get a visa to the U.S. because he was from Yemen. Several Yemeni al-Qaeda operatives failed to get visas to the U.S. because they were viewed as potential economic migrants, McDermott and Meyer write.</p><a href="/picture-gallery/news/nation/2021/09/08/twin-towers-live-these-9-11-memorials-around-us/5777751001/"><img width="100%" /></a><p>They have grown old at Guantanamo since then. Miller described their underwhelming appearance in court this week. Hawsawi sits in a special chair due to a <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/guantanamo/article107451907.html">prolapsed anus from CIA torture</a>, she said.</p><p>“You think they’re going to be monsters,” she said, “and they really just look like men, men who’ve been imprisoned for a long time.”</p><p>Michael Loria is a national reporter on the USA TODAY breaking news desk. Contact him at
[email protected], @mchael_mchael or on Signal at (202) 290-4585.</p></p>
A federal judge put a plea deal on ice that would have enabled the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks to avoid the death penalty and bring closure to families who have sought justice for over two decades.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two of his top al-Qaeda lieutenants were set to admit to planning the terrorist attacks in exchange for life in prison this month. The plea deal would have effectively ended over 20 years of wrangling and closed the book on one of America's most infamous legal chapters.
Families of those who lost loved ones in the attacks, reporters and others had all flown on a special charter flight from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland to hear the trio admit guilt in person at a military court at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where they’ve languished for years.
Instead, on Thursday, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered an administrative stay on the case. The stay gives the court more time to review the issue before deciding if the deals can proceed. It’s unclear how long the review will take. It comes a day after attorneys for Mohammed, often called KSM, and lieutenants Mustafa al Hawsawi and Walid Bin Attash had told a judge that their clients were fully prepared to plead guilty.
“That was really remarkable to see he’s willing to do that,” said Elizabeth Miller of Mohammed’s commitment to plead guilty this week. Miller lost her father, Douglas Miller, a firefighter in 9/11. “It was just unfortunate that it’s not legally binding and then we had the stay, so it’s back to total pause.” The family members will have to return home with the case still up in the air.
The court’s stay on the case is not the first delay to happen. The plea agreements have been hotly contested since they were announced at the end of July. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin quickly moved to scrap the deals. A judge had ruled the deals could proceed in November.
Many family members of victims and political leaders have also vociferously opposed the plea deals, saying the trio deserve to die.
“Taking the death penalty off the table was outrageous,” said Terry Strada whose husband Tom died on the 104th floor of the World Trade Center’s North Tower on 9/11. “They murdered nearly 3,000 Americans on American soil.”
Attorneys for the al-Qaeda operatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In court filings responding to the stay, they decried the pause in proceedings.
“The government’s plea for this Court’s eleventh-hour intervention is profoundly contrary to the interest of justice,” the attorneys wrote. “The victims, the defendants, and American people deserve finality in a case that has hung open for a quarter century. They deserve their long delayed day in court.”
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Question of a lifetime:Families prepare to confront 9/11 masterminds
Long wait for justice
Justice feels long overdue for those who lost loved ones in 9/11 and many view the plea agreements as the only way to proceed. The torture the men experienced at the hands of CIA operatives has made some evidence against them inadmissible in court.
Miller was among 10 family members of victims to take the special charter flight down to the base in Cuba to hear proceedings. She and many others were also hoping to get a chance to ask Mohammed and the others questions about the terrorist strikes as part of the guilty plea agreements.
“I thought I would get to hear the man who came up with the plan to kill my dad, the man responsible for the idea to kill all these people, admit guilt,” she told USA TODAY. “I thought I would hear that from his mouth.”
It’s expected the court will not make any further decisions regarding the case until at least next month, said Ron Flesvig, a spokesperson for the Office of Military Commissions. The case will instead be left to the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump.
“That could derail this even further, which is disheartening,” Miller said. “It’s so frustrating and sad that it’s almost comical because if you can't laugh at some dysfunction you would just sit and cry.”
![]()
What did KSM and the others do?
Mohammed’s planned attacks on the Twin Towers, the Pentagon and attempt to hit the Capitol building were the crowning achievements of a prolific terrorist career.
“The Hunt for KSM” by journalists Terry McDermott and Josh Meyer compiles an extensive list of the Kuwait-raised terrorist’s activities where he had a direct hand in the plots or at least directed funding to them. The prolific terrorist directed Richard Reid the Shoe Bomber’s plot; it’s expected he was connected to the 2004 bombings in Madrid that killed 191 people; helped fund the 2002 bombings in Bali that killed 202 people; masterminded the 2002 bombing of a synagogue in Tunisia that killed 19; and he horrifically murdered American Wall Street Journal correspondent Daniel Pearl by decapitation.
Hawsawi, a citizen of Saudi Arabia, helped launder money to the hijackers from the United Arab Emirates, according to McDermott and Meyer’s book. He was captured with Mohammed in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, in 2003.
Bin Attash hoped to be a hijacker but failed to get a visa to the U.S. because he was from Yemen. Several Yemeni al-Qaeda operatives failed to get visas to the U.S. because they were viewed as potential economic migrants, McDermott and Meyer write.
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They have grown old at Guantanamo since then. Miller described their underwhelming appearance in court this week. Hawsawi sits in a special chair due to a prolapsed anus from CIA torture, she said.
“You think they’re going to be monsters,” she said, “and they really just look like men, men who’ve been imprisoned for a long time.”
Michael Loria is a national reporter on the USA TODAY breaking news desk. Contact him at [email protected], @mchael_mchael or on Signal at (202) 290-4585.
