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Defense attorneys for a group of alleged 9/11 plotters slammed Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s decision last week to revoke an agreed-upon plea deal that would spare the men the death penalty.
They accused the Biden administration of making a “corrupt” move that would bring further “chaos” to a court proceeding that’s already stretched on more than a decade without going to trial.
“We have had an unprecedented act by a government official to pull back what was a valid agreement … For us, it raises very serious questions about continuing to engage in a system that seems so obviously corrupt and rigged,” Walter Ruiz, defense counsel for Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi, one of three men covered by the original plea deal, said in a military court on Wednesday, per CNN.
Another attorney, for alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, said he was “gobsmacked” by a comment from a government lawyer who requested time to consult with members of the government about legal challenges to the reversal, because the military’s position on the legality of the decision wasn’t yet “fully articulated.”
“We should not gratify the chaos that is resulting from this precipitous decision,” Gary Sowards reportedly said.
During the hearing, a judge overseeing the 9/11 case against Hawsawi, Mohammed, and a third alleged accomplice, Walid bin Attash, rejected ruling directly on whether Austin’s decision to cancel the deal was lawful, but allowed lawyers to investigate the circumstances surrounding the decision, according to The New York Times.
On Tuesday, Austin said he didn’t approach the decision around the plea lightly.
“Not a day that goes by when I don’t think of 9/11 and the Americans that were murdered that day, also those who died trying to save lives and the troops and their families who gave so much for this country in the years following,” Austin said at a press conference in Annapolis.
“The rules also allow a convening authority to withdraw from a pre-trial agreement,” a Defense Department told The Independent. “The Secretary acted consistent with the law.”
The case is set for another round of hearings on September 16.
Families of 9/11 victims criticized the initial decision to reach the plea deal.
Terry Strada, national chairperson of 9/11 Families United, told The Associated Press she wished the case had gone to a full trial.
“For me personally, I wanted to see a trial,” she said. “And they just took away the justice I was expecting, a trial and the punishment.”
Any eventual trial will have to contend with evidentiary issues since Mohammed and his associates were tortured for years by the CIA before being transferred to the Guantánamo Bay U.S. military prison.
