Rights group says 9/11 guilty plea deal at Guantánamo Bay 'substantial step' in ending military courts

Following news this week of the US government's plea agreements with 9/11 defendants before the military commissions at Guantánamo, a US rights group has described the step as substantial.

The Pentagon announced on Wednesday that three men, alleged 9/11 plot leader Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Walid bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi had entered into pre-trial agreements. They were charged with two other men in 2008 and have since been held at the detention centre on the US naval base in Guantánamo Bay.

"These plea agreements are a substantial step toward ending military commissions and the extralegal nightmare of Guantánamo. They were also inevitable because the 9/11 case was never going to be tried before a military commission," reads a public statement by the Center for Constitutional Rights, which has represented multiple detainees held at Guantánamo.

"The military commissions at Guantánamo have never provided justice or accountability for anyone. Rather, for the last two decades, they have provided a veneer of legal process that serves only to maintain the unacceptable status quo and cover up the torture and abuse of detainees," the statement continues.

The group noted that several of their clients, who have been approved for transfer, remain incarcerated at Guantánamo, and they are calling on the US administration to transfer the remaining 19 men.

The statement concludes, "We express our hope that this deal provides some measure of peace for our friends and colleagues at September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows and other victim family members, and a kind of closure for all involved. And we urge the Biden administration to move expeditiously to transfer the 19 remaining men who are not charged."

The detention centre at the US naval base in Cuba's Guantánamo Bay has been holding 9/11 detainees since 2002, most of whom have been held indefinitely without going through the justice system.