WASHINGTON: US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has revoked plea deals agreed to earlier this week with the person accused of masterminding the September 11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and two fellows, who are held at the US military jail at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, western media reported.
In a surprise note quietly released Friday night, Lloyd Austin stated that the responsibility for such an important decision “should rest with me.” Only two days earlier, the Pentagon had announced that it had reached a plea agreement with suspects accused of plotting the attacks.
The memo, also addressed to Susan Escallier, the convening authority for military commissions who runs the military courts at Guantanamo Bay, stated the defense secretary would immediately withdraw its authority in the cases and “reserve such power to (himself).”
Austin stated that he was withdrawing from the three pre-trial deals, which had taken the death penalty off the table for the accused.
Prosecutors in the case had been debating the possibility of a plea agreement for more than two years, which would have avoided a lengthy trial complicated by questions over the admissibility of evidence taken during torture.
After beginning talks in March 2022, the pre-trial deal announced Wednesday would have seen the accused sentenced to jail in exchange for pleading guilty to all charges.
In 2008, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was charged with a list of crimes including murder in violation of the law of war, conspiracy, attacking civilian objects, attacking civilians, intentionally causing serious bodily injury, and terrorism.
