A three-judge appeals panel will decide whether the plea deal Khalid Shaikh Mohammed reached to avoid a death-penalty trial remains valid.

Lawyers for accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed are urging a federal appeals panel to let his scheduled guilty plea Friday in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, go forward in a plea agreement that would spare him and two co-defendants the risk of the death penalty in al-Qaida's notorious Sept.

The Biden administration succeeded in blocking a plea deal for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed on Thursday after a federal court issued an administrative stay of a hearing set for Friday. "The purpose of this administrative stay is to allow the court time to receive full briefing on the mandamus petition,

The Biden administration succeeded in blocking a plea deal for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed after a federal court issued an administrative stay of a hearing set for Friday. The alleged 9/11 mastermind was expected to plead guilty as part of a plea agreement worked out by military prosecutors that would have removed the death penalty as a possibility in his case.

The move comes after years of legal battles over the case, which remains in pretrial hearings 17 years after charges were first filed.