US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin has rescinded a plea agreement with 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, just two days after announcing a deal that reportedly would have removed the death penalty. The agreements with Mohammed and two alleged accomplices, announced on Wednesday, seemed to be moving their protracted cases towards resolution but provoked anger among some relatives of the September 11, 2001 victims and criticism from prominent Republican politicians.
Austin stated in a memorandum to Susan Escallier, who oversaw the case, "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." He withdrew the three pre-trial agreements signed on July 31, 2024.
The cases against the 9/11 defendants have been stalled in pre-trial proceedings for years, with the accused held at Guantanamo Bay military base in Cuba. The New York Times reported that Mohammed, Walid bin Attash, and Mustafa al-Hawsawi had agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy in exchange for a life sentence, avoiding a trial that could have led to their execution. The legal challenges surrounding their cases have centered on whether they could be fairly tried after undergoing systematic torture by the CIA post-9/11.
The plea agreements sparked sharp criticism from political opponents of President Joe Biden's administration. Republican lawmaker Mike Rogers called the deals "unconscionable," while House Speaker Mike Johnson described them as a "slap in the face" to the families of the nearly 3,000 victims of the September 11 attacks. JD Vance, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's running mate, called the agreements a "sweetheart deal with 9/11 terrorists."
Mohammed, one of Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden's most trusted and intelligent lieutenants, was captured in Pakistan in 2003 and spent three years in secret CIA prisons before arriving at Guantanamo in 2006. Bin Attash, a Saudi of Yemeni origin, allegedly trained two of the hijackers involved in the September 11 attacks and confessed to buying explosives and recruiting members of the team that attacked the USS Cole. Hawsawi is suspected of managing the financing for the 9/11 attacks and was arrested in Pakistan in 2003, also spending time in secret prisons before being transferred to Guantanamo in 2006.
The United States used Guantanamo, an isolated naval base, to hold militants captured during the "War on Terror" following the September 11 attacks, aiming to prevent the defendants from claiming rights under US law. The facility once held roughly 800 prisoners but has since seen many repatriated to other countries. Biden pledged to try to shut down Guantanamo before his election, but it remains open.
