Appeals Court Temporarily Blocks 9/11 Mastermind’s Guilty Plea After US Government Request

The Pentagon is seeking to block plea agreements it reached with lawyers for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other defendants in the deadly al-Qaeda attacks.

Flowers on names of victims of the 9/11 terrorist attack during the annual 9/11 Commemoration Ceremony at the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum in New York City on Sept. 11, 2024. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

The man accused of masterminding the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks will no longer plead guilty as planned on Jan. 10 after an appeals court agreed to temporarily pause proceedings at the request of the federal government.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was due to deliver his guilty plea before a military commission courtroom at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.