The '9/11 mastermind' wants to plead guilty. Why is the US trying to stop him?

The accused mastermind of the 9/11 panic attacks connected the US volition nary longer plead blameworthy connected Friday, aft the US authorities moved to artifact plea deals reached past twelvemonth from going ahead.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, often referred to arsenic KSM, was owed to present his pleas astatine a warfare tribunal connected the Guantanamo Bay naval basal successful southeastern Cuba, wherever helium has been held successful a subject situation for astir 2 decades.

Mohammed is Guantanamo's astir notorious detainee and 1 of the past held astatine the base.

But a national appeals tribunal connected Thursday evening halted the scheduled proceedings to see requests from the authorities to wantonness plea deals, which it said would origin "irreparable" harm to some it and the public.

At a proceeding opening connected Friday morning, Mohammed was scheduled to plead blameworthy to his relation successful the 11 September 2001 attacks, erstwhile hijackers seized rider planes and crashed them into the World Trade Center successful New York and the Pentagon extracurricular of Washington. Another level crashed into a tract successful Pennsylvania aft passengers fought back.

Mohammed has been charged with offences including conspiracy and murder, with 2,976 victims listed connected the complaint sheet.

He has antecedently said that helium planned the "9/11 cognition from A-to-Z" - conceiving the thought of grooming pilots to alert commercialized planes into buildings and taking those plans to Osama bin Laden, person of the militant Islamist radical al-Qaeda, successful the mid 1990s.

Friday's proceeding was scheduled to hap successful a courtroom connected the base, wherever household members of those killed and the property would person been seated successful a viewing assemblage down heavy glass.

• What happened connected 9/11 and who is Khalid Sheikh Mohammed?

Pre-trial hearings, held astatine a subject tribunal connected the naval base, person been going connected for much than a decade, analyzable by questions implicit whether torture Mohammed and different defendants faced portion successful US custody taints the evidence.

Following his apprehension successful Pakistan successful 2003, Mohammed spent 3 years astatine concealed CIA prisons known arsenic "black sites" wherever helium was subjected to simulated drowning, oregon "waterboarding", 183 times, among different alleged "advanced interrogation techniques" that included slumber deprivation and forced nudity.

Karen Greenberg, writer of The Least Worst Place: How Guantanamo Became the World's Most Notorious Prison, says the usage of torture has made it "virtually intolerable to bring these cases to proceedings successful a mode that honors the regularisation of instrumentality and American jurisprudence".

"It's seemingly intolerable to contiguous grounds successful these cases without the usage of grounds derived from torture. Moreover, the information that these individuals were tortured adds different level of complexity to the prosecutions," she says.

The lawsuit besides falls nether the subject commissions, which run nether antithetic rules than the accepted US transgression justness strategy and dilatory the process down.

A plea woody was struck past summer, pursuing immoderate 2 years of negotiations.

The afloat details of the deals reached with Mohammed and 2 of his co-defendants person not been released.

We bash cognize that a woody means helium would not look a decease punishment trial.

In a tribunal proceeding connected Wednesday, his ineligible squad confirmed that helium had agreed to plead blameworthy to each charges. Mohammed did not code the tribunal personally, but engaged with his squad arsenic they went implicit the agreement, making tiny corrections and changes to wording with the prosecution and the judge.

If the deals are upheld and the pleas are accepted by the court, the adjacent steps would beryllium appointing a subject jury, known arsenic a panel, to perceive grounds astatine a sentencing hearing.

In tribunal connected Wednesday, this was described by lawyers arsenic a signifier of nationalist trial, wherever survivors and household members of those killed would beryllium fixed the accidental to springiness statements.

Under the agreement, the families would besides beryllium capable to airs questions to Mohammed, who would beryllium required to "answer their questions afloat and truthfully", lawyers say.

Central to the prosecution agreeing to the deals was a warrant "that we could contiguous each of the grounds that we thought was indispensable to found a humanities grounds of the accused's engagement successful what happened connected September 11th," prosecutor, Clayton G. Trivett Jr., said successful tribunal connected Wednesday.

Even if the pleas spell ahead, it would beryllium galore months earlier these proceedings would statesman and a condemnation yet delivered.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin appointed the elder authoritative who signed the deal. But helium was travelling astatine the clip it was signed and was reportedly caught by surprise, according to the New York Times.

Days later, helium attempted to revoke it, saying successful a memo: "Responsibility for specified a determination should remainder with maine arsenic the superior authority."

However, some a subject justice and a subject appeals sheet ruled that the woody was valid, and that Mr Austin had acted excessively late.

In different bid to artifact the deal, the authorities this week asked a national appeals tribunal to intervene.

In a ineligible filing, it said Mohammed and the 2 different men were charged with "perpetrating the astir egregious transgression enactment connected American ungraded successful modern history" and that enforcing the agreements would "deprive the authorities and the American radical of a nationalist proceedings arsenic to the respondents' guilt and the anticipation of superior punishment, contempt the information that the Secretary of Defense has lawfully withdrawn those agreements".

Following the announcement of the woody past summer, Republican Senator Mitch McConnell, past the party's person successful the chamber, released a connection describing it arsenic "a revolting abdication of the government's work to support America and supply justice".

Some families of those killed successful the attacks person besides criticised the deal, saying it is excessively lenient oregon lacks transparency.

Speaking to the BBC's Today Programme past summer, Terry Strada, whose hubby Tom was killed successful the attacks, described the woody arsenic "giving the detainees successful Guantanamo Bay what they want".

Ms Strada, the nationalist seat of the run radical 9/11 Families United, said: "This is simply a triumph for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the different two, it's a triumph for them."

Other families spot the agreements arsenic a way towards convictions successful the analyzable and long-running proceedings and were disappointed by the government's latest intervention.

Stephan Gerhardt, whose younger member Ralph was killed successful the attacks, had flown to Guantanamo Bay to ticker Mohammed plead guilty.

"What is the extremity end for the Biden administration? So they get the enactment and this drags into the adjacent administration. To what end? Think astir the families. Why are you prolonging this saga?" helium said.

Mr Gerhardt told the BBC the deals were "not a victory" for the families, but that it was "time to find a mode to adjacent this, to convict these men".

Families connected the basal were gathering with the property erstwhile quality of the hold was made public.

"It was expected to beryllium a clip of healing. We'll committee that level inactive with that heavy consciousness of symptom – there's conscionable nary extremity to it," 1 said.

Mohammed has been held successful a subject situation successful Guantanamo Bay since 2006.

The situation was opened 23 years agone - connected 11 January 2002 - during the "war connected terror" that followed the 9/11 attacks, arsenic a spot to clasp panic suspects and "illegal force combatants".

Most of those held present were ne'er charged and the subject situation has faced disapproval from rights groups and the United Nations implicit its attraction of detainees. The bulk person present been repatriated oregon resettled successful different countries.

The situation presently holds 15 - the smallest fig astatine immoderate constituent successful its history. All but six of them person been charged with oregon convicted of warfare crimes.