US scraps plea deal with 9/11 alleged masterminds, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. What we know so far

US Defence Secretary Llyod Austin revoked a plea deal with mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other accused of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks, reinstating their death penalty, according to the Pentagon.

“Effective immediately, in the exercise of my authority, I hereby withdraw from the three pre-trial agreements. I have determined that, in light of the significance of the decision to enter into pre-trial agreements with the accused...responsibility for such a decision should rest with me as the superior convening authority under the Military Commissions Act of 2009,” the statement read.

9/11 terrorist attacks: What we know so far

1) Susan Escallier, who oversees the Pentagon's Guantanamo war court, signed the pre-trial agreement for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) on July 31, 2024. The memo issued by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also mentioned four other defendants: Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak bin Attash, Mustafa Ahmed Adam al-Hawsawi, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, and Ali Abdul Aziz Ali.

2) Plea agreements were also made with two other detainees, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin 'Attash and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi. The New York Times reported that the three had agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy charges in exchange for life sentences rather than risk a trial that could potentially result in the death penalty.

3) Guantanamo Bay was established in 2002 by then-President George Bush to detain foreign militant suspects after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is alleged to be the mastermind behind the plan to crash hijacked commercial planes into the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon.

4) The 9/11 attacks resulted in nearly 3,000 deaths and led to the US war in Afghanistan. Several Republican lawmakers, including House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson and US Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, strongly criticised the plea deals.

5) In a post on X (formerly Twitter), McConnell wrote, “The Biden-Harris Administration's cowardice in the face of terror is a national disgrace. The plea deal with terrorists, including those behind the 9/11 attacks, is a revolting abdication of the government's responsibility to defend America and provide justice.”

6) J. Wells Dixon, a staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights who has represented defendants at Guantanamo as well as other detainees there who have been cleared of any wrongdoing, had welcomed the plea bargains as the only feasible way to resolve the long-stalled and legally fraught 9/11 cases.

(With inputs from agencies)