Appeals Court Throws Out Plea Deal For Alleged Mastermind Of Sept. 11 Attacks

394263 14: (PUERTO RICO OUT) (FILE PHOTO) The north tower of the World Trade Center burns after s hijacked airplane hit it September 11, 2001 in New York City. Almost two years after the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center, the New York Port Authority is releasing transcripts on August 28, 2003 of emergency calls made from inside the twin towers.(Photo by Jose Jimenez/Primera Hora/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON (AP) — A divided federal appeals court has thrown out an agreement that would’ve allowed accused Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to plead guilty in a deal sparing him the risk of execution for al-Qaida’s 2001 attacks. Friday’s decision undoes an attempt to wrap up more than two decades of military prosecution beset by legal and logistical troubles. It suggests no quick end to the long struggle by the U.S. military and successive administrations to bring to justice the man charged with planning one of the deadliest attacks on the United States. Mohammed is accused of developing the plot to crash hijacked airliners into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. One hijacked plane crashed in Pennsylvania.