The Biden administration has succeeded in temporarily blocking alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed from entering a guilty plea that would spare him the risk of execution for Al Qaeda's Sept.

The Biden administration has doubled down on its unusual court battle to derail a plea deal that the government itself had reached with accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and the Biden administration are attempting to block the deal to pursue capital punishment.

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.

An appeals court on Thursday temporarily blocked a plea deal for three accused 9/11 plotters in a win for the Justice Department and Pentagon, which had requested this week that the court block the agreements ahead of a Friday hearing.

The deal would allow Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, along with three other co-defendants, to plead guilty to avoid the death penalty.

The Justice Department, on behalf of the Pentagon, on Tuesday asked an appeals court to block an effort to enforce plea deals reached with four accused conspirators of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.