Attorneys for accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two of his alleged accomplices on Wednesday argued a plea agreement should remain in place after Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin revoked the deal, according to the Associated Press (AP).
The attorneys made the case during a military-run hearing in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, that was scheduled months before the U.S. Department of Defense released an announcement last week about agreements the Pentagon had made with Mohammad, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin ‘Attash and Hawsawi.
The plea deal would have kept the men in prison for life while avoiding a capital punishment trial, which has been held up for more than 12 years due to a series of legal maneuvers.
News of the plea deal resulted in immediate backlash, especially from Republican politicians who accused the Biden administration of being too soft on defendants allegedly involved in the 2001 attack that killed nearly 3,000 Americans.
A memo from Austin was soon posted on the Defense Department’s website that announced he had overturned the deal.
“I have determined that, in light of the significance of the decision to enter into pretrial agreements with the accused in the above-referenced case, responsibility for such a decision should rest with me as the superior convening authority under the Military Commissions Act of 2009,” Austin wrote.
“Effective immediately, I hereby withdraw your authority in the above-referenced case to enter into a pretrial agreement and reserve such authority to myself,” he added. “Effective immediately, in the exercise of my authority, I hereby withdraw from the three pretrial agreements that you signed on July 31, 2024 in the above-referenced case.”
During Wednesday’s hearing, attorneys for the 9/11 defendants argued that the plea deal should still be considered in place. They also contended that Austin violated military rules by halting the plea agreement.
“We have had an unprecedented act by a government official to pull back what was a valid agreement…For us, it raises very serious questions about continuing to engage in a system that seems so obviously corrupt and rigged,” Walter Ruiz, defense counsel for Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi, said during the hearing, according to CNN.
CNN added that the defense counsel argued Austin had violated a regulation in the Manual for Military Commissions, which states a convening authority can withdraw deals before defendants begin “performance of promises” or if they do not honor their part of the deal.
According to CNN, attorney Gary Sowards, who represents Mohammad, said Austin did not have authority under the regulation because Mohammad had begun “substantive, specific performance.”
A prosecutor reportedly responded by telling the court that the government had not yet had the opportunity to “work through the issues raised in these motions.”
Newsweek reached out to the Defense Department via email on Wednesday for comment.
The AP reported that the defense counsel told the judge proceeding over the case, Air Force Colonel Matthew McCall, that they consider the plea bargain to still be in place. McCall reportedly agreed that they could be excused from participating in the pre-trial hearings while challenges to Austin’s decision to halt the plea deal take place.
