There will be no plea agreement with the alleged mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks in the US. Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin reacted to the sharp criticism and canceled the prosecution deal.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin canceled last night the deal concluded earlier this week with the alleged "mastermind" of the September 11, 2001 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and two of his accomplices, the agencies reported. The three are being held at the US military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Earlier this week, the Pentagon announced that a plea agreement had been reached with defendants Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak bin Atash and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al-Hausawi. It allows Khalid, a Pakistani, to avoid a trial that could result in 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 Susan Esqualier, who heads the military court at Guantanamo, of her authority to conclude out-of-court agreements in the case, taking them over himself.
"Exercising my authority, I withdraw the three preliminary agreements, with my decision taking effect immediately," Austin said in a statement.
The agreement was met with misunderstanding
Many Republican congressmen, led by the Speaker of the House of Representatives (Lower House of Congress) Mike Johnson and the Republican minority leader in the Senate - Mitch McConnell, sharply criticized the plea agreement with the three terrorists.
The chairman of the Oversight and Accountability Committee in the US House of Representatives, James Comer, quoted by ARD, also sharply criticized the agreement in a letter to US President Joe Biden. "You (...) are signaling to our enemies that the United States is not prepared to take strong action against those who attack our country," Comer wrote. He also expressed regret for the absolute lack of transparency.
On September 11, 2001, about 3,000 people died in the worst terrorist attack in the United States to date. Islamic terrorists crashed three hijacked passenger planes into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon building near Washington. A fourth plane crashed in the state of Pennsylvania. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is considered the main organizer of the attacks.