Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin revoked the authority of the official running the war court at Guantánamo Bay to reach settlements, the latest legal twist tied to a long-running drama over the fate of the alleged 9/11 plotters who are detained there.
In a memo dated Monday, obtained by The New York Times, Austin removed Susan K. Escallier’s ability to reach settlements in two separate cases, the U.S.S. Cole and Bali bombings, “effective immediately.”
The move was meant to ensure “we aren’t surprised by anything for the remainder of the term,” a senior Defense Department official told the paper.
The controversy dates back to July 31, when military prosecutors reached an agreement with alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and two alleged accomplices ahead of their capital trial. The men would plead guilty in exchange for receiving a life sentence.
Two days later, Austin sought to revoke the agreements.
By November, a military judge ruled that the Defense Secretary had acted too late and the deals were valid. Military prosecutors have suggested they will appeal the decision.
Two-thirds of the 30 remaining detainees in the controversial prison have not been convicted or charged with a crime, while 16 among this group have been approved for transfer to other countries pending security arrangements.
The 9/11 case has been in pre-trial status since 2012, as attorneys wrestle with issues tied to CIA’s torture of the alleged plotters.
As The Independent has reported, decades after the beginning of the War on Terror, the CIA still has not disclosed the full extent of its influence and activities at Guantánamo, prompting a lawsuit from Ammar al-Baluchi, a separate 9/11 detainee not include in the original plea deal.
His lawyers argue the CIA wrongly dodged a records requests about Guantánamo’s mysterious Camp 7, where detainees who had been held in secret CIA “black site” prisons and torture sites around the world were deposited ahead of further interrogations.
The Trump administration hasn’t publicly signalled its stance on the 9/11 plotter plea deals.
