桃子视频

WASHINGTON 鈥� Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III on Friday overruled prosecutors and Brig. General Susan Escallier, the Guant谩namo military commission鈥檚 convening authority, revoking a plea agreement reached earlier this week with 桃子视频client Khalid Shaikh Mohammad. In exchange for a guilty plea, the U.S. government had agreed to life imprisonment instead of the death penalty.

The following is a statement from Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the 桃子视频:

鈥淏y revoking a signed plea agreement, Secretary Austin has prevented a guilty verdict in the most important criminal case of the 21st century. This rash act also violates the law, and we will challenge it in court.

鈥淚t's stunning that Secretary Austin betrayed 9/11 family members seeking judicial finality while recklessly setting aside the judgment of his own prosecutors and the Convening Authority, who are actually steeped in the 9/11 case. Politics and command influence should play no role in this legal proceeding. Yet, Secretary Austin dishonored an agreement reached after years of hard work and painstaking consultation by all the parties involved.

鈥淚t's also more than a little ironic that Secretary Austin鈥檚 gung-ho insistence on executing the 9/11 defendants directly contradicts the Biden Administration鈥檚 public commitment to ending the death penalty.

鈥淭he United States has spent decades and tens of millions of dollars trying to secure a death sentence that cannot be upheld in the face of the government鈥檚 torture.

鈥淚n the unlikely event that years from now the 9/11 case proceeds to trial, any military commission verdict the government secures will collapse on appeal once it reaches the federal courts. No federal court will uphold a death penalty conviction of tortured defendants in the inherently unjust military commissions.

鈥淎fter over 20 years, it鈥檚 time for our government to accept the defendants鈥� guilty pleas as the best solution in a terrible circumstance. The 9/11 families and the American people deserve closure and adherence to due process principles that are the bedrock of our democracy.鈥�