US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has annulled a plea deal with the accused mastermind of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, thereby reinstating his death penalty, according to the Associated Press. The plea deal, which was overturned for two other defendants as well, had been finalised only two days before it was revoked.
The military commission at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, had revealed that the official in charge of the war court, retired brigadier general Susan Escallier, had finalised a plea deal with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the prime accused, and his two alleged accomplices, Walid bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi. Letters were sent to the families of nearly 3,000 victims of the Al-Qaeda attacks, informing them that the three accused would receive life sentences.
In his decision to cancel the plea deal on Friday, defense secretary Austin stated that due to the importance of the decision, he believed he had the authority to make a final ruling in the case and overturn Escallier’s judgment.
Families of the terrorist attack victims had criticised the previous deal for eliminating the chance of a full trial or death penalty. Many Republicans held the Biden administration responsible, but the administration responded by saying they were unaware of the details of the agreement.
Mohammed and the two others, who are accused of hijacking passenger planes and crashing them into the World Trade Center in 2001, were scheduled to submit their guilty pleas next week. Of the two others accused of involvement, one is negotiating a plea deal, while the other has been declared unfit to stand trial.
The U.S. military commission handling the cases of the five defendants has been bogged down in pre-trial hearings and preliminary court proceedings since 2008, largely because of the torture the defendants endured while in CIA custody. J. Wells Dixon, a staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights who has represented the defendants, accused Austin of “bowing to political pressure and pushing some victim family members over an emotional cliff” by cancelling the plea deals.
Lawyers have been working to negotiate a resolution to the case for approximately 18 months. Last year, President Joe Biden halted a proposed plea deal by refusing to provide solitary confinement and trauma care for the defendants as compensation for the torture they endured under the CIA.