On Friday, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin canceled a plea agreement with three defendants in the September 11, 2011, terrorist attacks case that had been announced two days earlier.
The plea bargain was reached between the warden of the military commission, the military court in Guantanamo Bay where the 9/11 cases are being tried, and three defendants, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Walid bin Attash, and Mustafa al-Hawsawi. All three, according to prosecutors, were involved in organizing terrorist attacks in the United States using hijacked passenger planes, which killed about 3,000 people. They have been imprisoned at the Guantanamo Bay military base since 2006. Preparations for the trial have been delayed for many years, in part because the defendants claim that they were tortured, which means that much of their testimony cannot be used in court. The plea bargains provided for the defendants to admit their guilt in exchange for the prosecutors agreeing not to seek the death penalty for the defendants.
But the agreement has drawn criticism from some of the victims’ families and from prominent Republican lawmakers. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell called the prosecutors’ decision “an abhorrent example of government neglect of its responsibility to protect America and ensure justice.” A bill has been introduced in the Senate to repeal the agreement.
The defense minister’s decision shocked the defendants’ lawyers, who were preparing for a court hearing in which a judge would approve the plea deal. They expressed disappointment that the defense minister was “disregarding due process.”
The revocation of the plea agreement means that the case will go to trial and the defendants could face the death penalty.
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