US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin has revoked the plea deal reached with threee men accused of plotting the 9/11 attacks.
The original deal would have spared the attackers the death penalty, and was publicly condemned by victims’ families.
In a memo on Friday, Austin also said he was revoking the authority of the officer overseeing the military court who signed the agreement on Wednesday.
The original deal named three men, but Austin’s memo added two.
The five men, all of whom have been jailed without trial for decades, named in the memo were: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, often referred to as KSM, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak bin Attash, Mustafa Ahmed Adam al-Hawsawi; and two others not mentioned in the original plea: Ramzi bin al-Shibh and Ali Abdul Aziz Ali.
All five have claimed that they have been tortured hundreds of times at Guantanamo, with prison techniques since banned. These allegations of torture have complicated their lengthy trials.
Critics of the plea deal have pointed out that the death penalty would remain appropriate for those who murdered 3000 innocent people in a single day.
Republicans in particular have applauded the move. Earlier on Friday, Republican Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee Mike Rogers demanded answers from Austin on the details of the plea deal, and reprimanded him for suggesting that negotiation was open to terrorists.
The White House has said that it had played no role in the plea deal, in response to criticism immediately directed towards President Biden. In fact, in September, the Biden administration reportedly rejected the terms of a plea deal with five men held at the US Navy base in Cuba, including Mohammed.
