US cancels plea agreement with 9/11 alleged mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
United States Department of Defence Secretary Llyod Ausin has canceled a plea agreement agreed to earlier this week with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other accused, who have been accused of plotting the September 11 attacks and are being held at the military prison in Cuba's Guantanamo Bay.
A statement by the Pentagon on Friday said without elaborating on the details that plea deals had been entered into.
"Effective immediately, in the exercise of my authority, I hereby withdraw from the three pre-trial agreements," Austin wrote in a memo to Susan Escallier, who oversees the Pentagon's Guantanamo war court.
"I have determined that, in light of the significance of the decision to enter into pre-trial agreements with the accused...responsibility for such a decision should rest with me as the superior convening authority under the Military Commissions Act of 2009," Austin wrote.
On July 31, 2024, Escallier signed the pre-trial agreement for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM). In a memo by Austin, four other defendants were named: Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak bin Attash, Mustafa Ahmed Adam al-Hawsawi, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, and Ali Abdul Aziz Ali. Plea deals were also finalized for two other detainees, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin 'Attash and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al-Hawsawi. According to a report by the New York Times, these three individuals agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy in exchange for life sentences, thereby avoiding a trial that could result in the death penalty.
Guantanamo Bay, established in 2002 by then-US President George Bush, was intended to detain foreign militant suspects following the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is accused of orchestrating the plan to fly hijacked commercial planes into the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon.
The 9/11 attacks claimed nearly 3,000 lives and led to the United States initiating a war in Afghanistan. Several Republican lawmakers, including House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, have strongly criticized the plea deals.
"The Biden-Harris Administration's cowardice in the face of terror is a national disgrace. The plea deal with terrorists, including those behind the 9/11 attacks, is a revolting abdication of the government's responsibility to defend America and provide justice, MCConnenell said in a post on X.
- With inputs from agencies
