U.S. Defense Secretary, Lloyd Austin, has revoked plea agreements previously made with three suspects involved in the Sept. 11, 2001, or 9/11 attacks, including the alleged mastermind, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
What Happened: On Friday, Austin withdrew the plea deals that were initially agreed upon earlier in the week. The suspects are currently held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, according to a memorandum signed by Austin on Friday.
Austin has now stripped Susan Escallier, the overseer of the Pentagon’s Guantanamo war court, of her authority to enter into pre-trial agreements in this case.
The Pentagon chief has assumed this responsibility himself. “Effective immediately, in the exercise of my authority, I hereby withdraw from the three pre-trial agreements…,” he stated in a memo.
The 9/11 attacks, which resulted in nearly 3,000 deaths, led to a two-decade-long war in Afghanistan for the U.S.
Why It Matters: The Defense Department revealed the plea agreements on Wednesday. The agreements required the accused to plead guilty to all charges, including the murder of the 2,976 victims of the attacks, with their sentences to be decided by a panel of military officials.
A U.S. official suggested that the deals likely involved guilty pleas in exchange for removing the death penalty.
Alongside Mohammed, the plea deals had also been reached with two other detainees: Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin ‘Attash and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi.
The plea deals had faced strong criticism from several Republican lawmakers, including House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.)and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-K.y.).
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