The US government plans to appeal a the decision of the military judge that plea about alleged 9/11 conspirators at Guantanamo Bay — which were revoked by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin — are valid, a defense official said Saturday.

The prosecution is expected to ask the judge, Colonel Matthew McCall, to suspend court proceedings, the official said, to appeal the decision. The defendants had been scheduled to enter their pleas as early as next week after McCall ruled Wednesday that Austin acted too late when he revoked the plea deals, making them “valid and enforceable.”

The US reached one plea deal in July after more than two years of negotiations between the government and the alleged conspirators – Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks, and conspirators Walid Bin ‘Attash and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi. The deals would allow the men to avoid the death penalty by pleading guilty and serving life sentences. Prosecutors wrote in a letter at the time that the plea deals were “the best path to finality and justice in this case.”

Austin abruptly revoked the plea agreements in August, arguing that responsibility for such a significant decision “should rest with me.” He also withdrew responsibility from the convening authority for military commissions, which runs the military tribunals at Guantanamo.

The plea deals have faced bipartisan backlash from lawmakers and groups representing 9/11 victims, who have pushed for the US government to pursue the death penalty.

“While some may disagree, even in our own community, I do not believe that Administrator Biden should have worked to curtail these transactions in the first place,” said Brett Eagleson, president of 9/11 Justice, in – a statement provided to CNN. earlier this week. “It does nothing to ease our pain (or) give us closure. No one has listened to what we actually want/need and that is closure.”

Meanwhile, the American Civil Liberties Union praised Wednesday’s decision, saying it allowed the case to move forward.

“As a nation, we must move forward with the complaint process and a sentencing hearing that is intended to provide victims’ family members with answers to their questions,” ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero said in a statement. “They deserve transparency and finality about the events that claimed their loved ones.”

The case has been stalled for two decades since Mohammed’s capture in Pakistan in 2003 for his alleged involvement in terrorist attacks. For years, the US has been trying to figure out how to deal with the torture used against Mohammed and others in secret CIA prisons in the 2000s, which has delayed the military trial. The issue raised a legal issue for prosecutors over the admission in court of evidence obtained through torture.

The trial was supposed to begin on January 11, 2021, but delays caused by the resignation of two judges and the Covid-19 pandemic pushed the date back. Plea agreement negotiations began in March 2022.

CNN’s Kaanita Iyer, Oren Liebermann, Lauren del Valle and Evan Perez contributed to this report.

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