A defense official says the Defense Department will appeal a military judge’s ruling that plea agreements struck by the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and two of his co-defendants are valid.

A military judge has reinstated the plea agreements struck between the U.S. government and alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two others. Government prosecutors had come to plea agreements with the three alleged terrorists,

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Thursday he still believed he should be the one to decide the fate of plea deals for the man accused of masterminding the Sept. 11 attacks and two accomplices held at the U.

A military judge has ruled that plea agreements in the Sept. 11 case were valid, making it possible for the three prisoners accused of helping to plot the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to be sentenced to life in prison instead of death.