US 9/11 Mastermind News: The US has decided not to show any mercy to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the 11 September 2001 terror attacks, and his associates, Walid bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin cancelled the agreement with the accused masterminds and reinstated their death sentence. This happened just two days after the announcement of the agreement in which the death penalty was almost abolished. However, this had angered the families of those killed in the attack.

Khalid was arrested in Pakistan in 2003 and he and his co-conspirators were interrogated in a secret prison run by the US investigative agency CIA. In the attack on the World Trade Center, the twin skyscrapers (Twin Towers) that had become the identity of New York City till then, collapsed and about three thousand people were killed.

The military commission in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, had announced that retired Brigadier General Susan Escalier, the officer appointed to oversee the war court, had finalised a plea deal with main accused Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his two alleged accomplices, Walid bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi. Letters were sent to the families of nearly 3,000 people killed in al-Qaeda attacks informing them that the three accused would serve life sentences. In his order cancelling the plea deal on Friday, the US Defense Secretary wrote that he has decided that he is authorized to make the final decision. Thus he canceled the earlier decision of Brigadier General Susan Escalier.

It is worth noting that the families of the victims were also against this petition. They had criticized the decision to give relief to the accused of the terrorist attack. Some Republicans blamed the Biden administration for this. However, the Biden administration said that they were not aware of the details related to the deal. A case has been filed against Khalid in 2008 for several crimes including conspiracy to attack, violation of the law of war and murder, attack on civilians and public property, destruction of property, intentionally causing serious physical harm to people and terrorism and material support for terrorism.

The trial under military law against Khalid and his co-conspirators was delayed as the US court took time to authenticate evidence obtained from Khalid and others in a secret CIA prison in the 2000s. The trial was scheduled to begin on January 11, 2021, but was delayed due to the resignation of two judges and the corona pandemic.