Last week, US Defense Secretary Llyod Austin revoked a plea deal with the three men accused of plotting the 9/11 terror attacks that took the lives of 2,996 people. Austin also announced he was revoking the authority of the officer overseeing the military court who signed the agreement.
The original settlement faced fierce criticism from families of the victims for being too lenient in sparing the three alleged plotters of the attacks the death penalty in return for them pleading guilty to all of the charged offences. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (commonly referred to as KSM), Walid Muhammed Salih Mubarak Bin Attash and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al-Hawsawi have been held at the US Navy Base at Guantanamo Bay since their capture between 2002 and 2003. The men have remained in custody for decades without trial and each has alleged torture; KSM was reportedly subject to simulated drowning, so-called “waterboarding” 183 times before it was banned by the US government. All have also faced over a decade of pre-trial hearings, complicated by allegations of torture against them.
The 9/11 terror attacks were the deadliest assaults on US soil since the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, Hawaii. Hijackers seized four commercial planes and crashed them into the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon in Virginia and a field in Pennsylavnia, killing a total of 2,996 people.
In his memo, Austin said, “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 authority”. The White House also released a statement denying any involvement in the plea deal. The three face a litany of charges ranging from hijacking to the murder of almost 3,000 people. In September, the Biden administration rejected the terms of a plea deal with five men held at Guantanamo Bay, including KSM. They had reportedly sought a guarantee from the President that they would not be kept in solitary confinement and would have access to trauma treatment.
Written by Rakan Pharaon
