United States Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Friday overrode a plea deal agreed with three plotters of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the North American country.

"I have determined that in light, of the significance of the decision to enter into pre-trial agreements with the accused ... responsibility for such a decision should rest with me," read a memo signed by Austin and addressed to Susan Escallier, who oversaw the case. "I hereby withdraw from the three pre-trial agreements that you signed on July 31, 2024 in the above-referenced case."

Plea deal included life sentence for KSM

The military commission at Guantanamo Bay, where alleged mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, often known by the initials KSM,  Walid bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi are being held, announced on Wednesday it and the defendants had agreed to guilty pleas in exchange for a life sentence, instead of facing trials that could lead to their execution.

However, after letters were sent to families of the nearly 3,000 people killed in the al-Qaeda attacks explaining the plea agreement stipulated the three would serve life sentences, the decision was met with backlash.

Many Republican lawmakers, including House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, had strongly criticized the plea deals.

McConnell said the plea agreement was "a revolting abdication of the government’s responsibility to defend America and provide justice."

The White House said that it had no prior knowledge of the agreement.

9/11 survivor group had called for death penalty

Terry Strada, the national chair of the 9/11 Families United organization of survivors and family members of those killed in the attacks on September 11, 2001, told DW on Wednesday that members of her group were upset at the reported plea deal and that the accused would not face an open trial. 

"The vast majority of the family members I've been speaking to are very angry, and we feel like justice was denied today in Cuba," she said before Austin overrode the agreement. "These men do not deserve any mercy. The death penalty was the right punishment."

Trials delayed by potential torture

The cases against the three 9/11 defendants have been stuck in pre-trial maneuverings for years while the accused remained held at the US military base in Cuba.

Among the legal complications surrounding the men's cases is whether they could be fairly tried after having undergone methodical torture at the hands of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in the years after 9/11.

km/sms (AP. Reuters, AFP, DPA)