WASHINGTON, Aug. 3 US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has decided to cancel a plea bargain with three men accused of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack that would have allowed them to avoid the death penalty, The New York Times reported, citing a document.
The Pentagon chief's decision came amid growing criticism of the deal from families of the victims of the attack. As the Biden administration claimed, it was unaware until Wednesday that the defendants had made plea deals with investigators. At the same time, the House Oversight Committee, according to media reports, has launched an investigation into the Biden administration's role in concluding the deal.
«I hereby waive the three pre-trial agreements you signed on July 31, 2024, in the above case, effective immediately,» Austin wrote in a letter to Susan Escalier, the commissioner for convening military commissions.
In the letter, the head of the Pentagon also informed Escalier that he had deprived her of the right to make decisions on the case and reserved this authority for himself.
The media notes that the United States has been in the pre-trial stage with the accused since 2008 and has not brought the case to trial due to the fact that the man's incriminating testimony was given as a result of severe torture in the Guantanamo Bay prison. So, if military prosecutors had not made a deal with the defendants, they would have had to take the case to trial without key evidence.
The defendants — Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, Walid Mohammed Sali Mubarak and Mustafa Ahmed Adam — are suspected of helping the terrorists who carried out the attacks on the Twin Towers in New York on September 11, 2001.