US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin canceled last night a deal made earlier this week with calculations for the "brain" of the attacks of September 11, 2001, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two of his accomplices, reported Reuters, quoted by BTA.
They are imprisoned at the US military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The Pentagon announced Wednesday that defendants Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Waleed Muhammad Salih Mubarak bin Attash and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al-Houssawi had reached a plea agreement. It allows Khalid, a Pakistani, to avoid a trial where he could face the death penalty. The three are accused of terrorism and the murder of nearly 3,000 people in the attacks in New York and Washington.
Austin last night relieved Suzanne Escalier, who heads the military court at Guantanamo, of her authority to make out-of-court settlements in the case, taking them himself.
"Exercising my authority, I am withdrawing the three preliminary agreements, with my decision effective immediately," Austin said in a statement.
Many Republican congressmen, led by House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, sharply criticized the plea agreement with the three terrorists.< /p>