United States | Lloyd Austin overturned a deal announced by the Pentagon that would have saved the WTC victims from the death penalty

of the United States Minister of Defense Lloyd Austin abruptly canceled a deal involving the alleged mastermind of the 2001 September 11 terrorist attacks and his associates.

The matter was reported by e.g. CNN, The New York Times and ABC News.

Just a few days earlier, in the contract announced by the Pentagon, he was claimed to be the main designer Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two other defendants agreed to plead guilty to avoid the death penalty.

Instead of the death sentence, the defendants would have received life sentences as a result of the agreement. In addition to the 59-year-old Mohammed, there are also 40-year-olds accused Walid bin Attash and 55 years old Mustafa al-Hawsawi.

In a memo quietly released Friday night, Austin states that such a major decision should be his responsibility.

The memo is addressed To Susan Escallier, which is in charge of the military tribunals at Guantanamo Bay. According to the memo, the Secretary of the Ministry of Defense would immediately withdraw Escallier’s authority from the cases and retain the authority himself.

The incident prosecutors have been trying for more than two years to negotiate a deal that Austin is now reneging on. It would have avoided a lengthy court hearing that would complicate questions about the alleged torture of defendants at Guantanamo Bay prison.

A letter about the deal revealed that the defendants had pleaded guilty to all charges, a total of 2,976 murders.

According to prosecutors, the agreement was intended to bring “finality and justice” to the case, especially for the families of those killed in the New York, Pentagon and Pennsylvania attacks.

Some of the relatives were unhappy with the agreement, as they would have wanted the accused to be sentenced to death. Some, on the other hand, accepted the agreement and felt that the best possible outcome was obtained from a difficult situation.