Washington, Jan 10 (AP) The Biden administration has succeeded in temporarily blocking a plea deal for accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed that would spare him the risk of the death penalty for al-Qaida's September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

The decision by a three-judge panel of the District of Columbia federal appeals court follows an unusual request by the government to postpone a deal reached by the Defence Department's own officials.

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It stalls an attempt to wrap up more than two decades of military prosecution — beset by legal challenges — in one of the deadliest attacks in US history.

It was a last-ditch government request to prevent Mohammed from entering a guilty plea Friday. Family members of some of the nearly 3,000 people killed in al-Qaida's September 11, 2001, attacks already were gathered at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to hear it. (AP)

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