U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Tuesday that victims’ families and American citizens deserve to see the “mastermind” of the September 11, 2001, attacks and other defendants face justice, after canceling a plea deal.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-proclaimed “mastermind” of the attacks that have shocked the United States, had accepted a deal that was supposed to spare him the death penalty, a deal that was quickly revoked by the Pentagon on Friday after an outcry from victims’ families and political leaders.
“The victims’ families, our service members and the American people deserve to see the military commission trials in this case go to trial,” Lloyd Austin said at a news conference in Annapolis, near Washington.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, a 60-year-old Pakistani, is, after Osama bin Laden, the most hated figure linked to the September 11 attacks. The agreement announced on July 31 by the Ministry of Defense itself shocked many relatives of the nearly 3,000 victims and sparked virulent criticism in the Republican camp.
The terms of the since-revoked agreement have not been made public. According to the New York TimesKhalid Sheikh Mohammed and two accomplices had agreed to plead guilty to criminal conspiracy in exchange for a life sentence, instead of a trial that could have led to their execution.
The 9/11 cases languished for years, with the defendants held at the U.S. military base at Guantánamo Bay, a prison that has tarnished the United States’ international image.
At the heart of the embarrassment surrounding these cases is the torture suffered by the accused. It raises the question of whether or not a possible trial against them would be fair. A thorny issue, and an embarrassing scandal for the United States, which plea agreements would have avoided.