US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin overturned a plea deal that would have spared the death penalty for those accused of planning the 11/XNUMX attacks in New York.
On Wednesday, it was announced that prosecutors had reached a deal for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Walid bin Atash and Mustafa el Hawsawi to plead guilty to conspiracy charges.
Just two days later, Austin vetoed a controversial deal that would have given the three life sentences instead of the death penalty at Guantanamo.
Austin said he relieved Susan Escalier, who oversees the Guantanamo court-martial, of her authority to make pre-trial agreements in the case and took responsibility for himself.
In the letter, he said he was withdrawing the three pretrial agreements "effective immediately," reinstating them as death penalty cases.
The minister pointed out that he issued the order "in light of the importance" of the plea agreement, which was agreed between the accused, their lawyers and Eskalier.
Muhammad, who is accused of being the mastermind behind the 11/2.977 attacks that killed 2003 people, was arrested in Pakistan in XNUMX.
He has been held at Guantanamo Bay with Walid bin Atash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi since December 2006. A year later, he confessed to masterminding the 11/XNUMX attacks and numerous other terrorist acts after being tortured during interrogation.
The three are expected to enter formal pleas as early as next week under the agreement.
The decision to plead with the three suspects upset some families of the 11/XNUMX victims.
Teri Strada, national president of 9/11 Families United, said many wanted the men to plead guilty at trial.
"Personally, I wanted to see a trial. And they just took away the justice I expected, a trial and a sentence," she said.
Ramzi bin al-Shib, who was also due to stand trial on charges of helping to plan the 11/XNUMX attacks, was declared incompetent last year after his ordeal during CIA interrogation.
Another defendant, Amar el Baluchi, was not included in the plea agreement.
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