Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Friday revoked a plea deal for the accused plotters of the September 11 terrorist attacks, putting the death penalty back in play just days after the agreement had been reached.
In a memo, Austin noted the senior Defense Department official responsible for military commissions, retired Brig. Gen. Susan Escallier, had been relieved of her oversight of the case against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his alleged accomplices.
“I have determined that, in light of the significance of the decision to enter into pre-trial agreements with the accused in the above-referenced case, responsibility for such a decision should rest with me as the superior convening authority under the Military Commissions Act of 2009,” he wrote. “Effective immediately, I hereby withdraw your authority in the above-referenced case to enter into a pre-trial agreement and reserve such authority to myself.”
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Austin added: “Effective immediately, in the exercise of my authority, I hereby withdraw from the three pre-trial agreements that you signed on July 31 , 2024 in the above-referenced case.”
Escallier had signed the plea deal on Wednesday, with Mohammed agreeing to it from his cell in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Under its provisions, the confidant of Osama bin Laden would have been sentenced to 2,976 years in prison—one year for each death he was responsible for. Two accomplices would also have received sentences of up to life in prison.
The plea agreement was struck amid concerns from the defense and victims’ families about the legal feasibility of Mohammed receiving the death penalty due to allegations that he had been tortured while in custody, a senior law enforcement official close to the situation told The Daily Beast.
Mohammed’s lead defense counsel, Gary Sowards, disapproved of Austin’s decision.
“If the secretary of defense issued such an order, I am respectfully and profoundly disappointed that after all of these years the government still has not learned the lessons of this case, and the mischief that results from disregarding due process and fair play,” he told The New York Times.
