Judge sets date for 9/11 defendants to enter pleas, deepening battle over court’s independence

Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military judge at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has scheduled hearings in early January for alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two co-defendants to enter guilty pleas in exchange for life sentences. That is despite Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s effort to scuttle the plea agreements. The move Wednesday comes in the government’s long-running prosecution in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people. It signals a deepening battle over the independence of the military commission at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo from outside intervention by U.S. officials.