US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Friday revoked the out-of-court settlement reached earlier this week with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed – the alleged “mastermind” of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the US – and two of his accomplices, who are being held at the military Guantanamo prison in Cuba.
The Pentagon announced Wednesday that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two of his fellow prisoners — Walid bin Atas and Mustafa al-Hawsawi — had agreed to plead guilty, without elaborating on the deal. A US official said the defendants likely accepted the deal in exchange for avoiding the death penalty.
But on Friday, the US defense secretary stripped Susan Escalier, who oversees the military court at Guantanamo Bay, of her authority to make out-of-court settlements in the case, taking over the role himself. “Effective immediately and in exercise of my authority, I am withdrawing from the three pre-trial agreements,” underlines Lloyd Austin.
Republican leaders in Congress had strongly criticized the plea deal with the three defendants in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon.
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