Washington: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed: US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Friday canceled a plea agreement with 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. This incident happened two days after the announcement of the deal that reportedly commuted Khalid's death sentence.

The agreement reached on Wednesday with Mohammed and his two alleged accomplices angered some relatives of those killed on 11 September 2001. Khalid is currently being held at the Guantanamo Bay military base in Cuba. 

'I withdraw from three pre-trial agreements'

"I have determined that, given the importance of the decision to enter into pretrial agreements with the accused, the responsibility for such a decision should rest with me," Austin said in a memo addressed to Susan Escalier, who oversees the case. "I hereby withdraw from the three pretrial agreements you signed on July 31, 2024, in the above referenced case," the memo said.

agreed to plead guilty

The New York Times reported this week that Mohammed, Walid bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi had agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy in exchange for life sentences, rather than face a trial that could have resulted in the death penalty.

For information, let us tell you that in the years after 9/11, all three terrorists had to face many tortures at the hands of the CIA. Now most of the legal debate related to the cases of these people has been centered on whether they can be tried fairly?