Lawyer for news organizations presses Guantanamo judge to make public a plea deal for 9/11 accused

Associated Press

FORT MEADE, Md. (AP) — A lawyer for news organizations has urged the U.S. military commission at Guantanamo Bay to unseal the plea deal struck with accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two others. Attorney David Schulz told the military commission judge Friday that the public has a constitutional right to follow one of the “most-disputed, debated, argued-about prosecutions” in U.S. history. Mohammed and two co-accused had struck a plea deal with the U.S. government in August. But Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin swiftly revoked it. Defense lawyers have joined prosecutors in asking the Guantanamo military judge to keep terms of the plea deal sealed. The judge indicated a decision could come as soon as November.-