The agreements reached with Mohammed and two alleged accomplices were the end of these cases, but they caused the indignation of relatives of some of the more than 3,000 people killed on September 11, 2001.
“I have determined that, in light of the importance of the decision to reach pretrial settlements with the defendants… The responsibility for such a decision must fall on me.“Austin said in a memo to case supervisor Susan Escallier.
“Hereby I withdraw from the three pre-trial agreements that you signed on July 31, 2024“, the secretary added.
The cases against these three defendants for the attacks in several cities in the United States have bogged down by legal loopholes for nearly two decadesduring which time Mohammed has been held at the Guantanamo military base (Cuba).
Deals with Mohammed and two alleged accomplices had appeared to have moved their long-running cases toward resolution — but sparked anger among some relatives of those killed on September 11, 2001, as well as criticism from leading Republican politicians pic.twitter.com/wOzEyut7Pj
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) August 3, 2024
The New York Times reported this week that Mohammed, Walid bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi They had agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy in exchange for life in prison rather than face trial. and be sentenced to capital punishment.
Much of the legal debate surrounding the defendants’ cases has focused on if they could be tried fairly after being subjected to torture at the hands of the CIA during these years.
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