‘Deeply disappointing’: Durbin calls on Austin to reinstate controversial plea deals for 9/11 terrorists
Secretary Austin withdrew the plea deals last week after significant backlash
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin, D-Ill., pleaded with Department of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to reinstate plea deals that were struck with three accused masterminds behind the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks after they were revoked last week.
"I urge Secretary Austin to reverse this deeply disappointing decision, which denies finality and justice to 9/11 families and exposes yet again the lack of independence that has haunted the military commissions from the outset," Durbin wrote on X.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Department of Defense initially revealed last week that pre-trial agreements were entered with Khalid Shaikh Mohammad, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin ‘Attash, and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi.
The details of the plea deals were not public, but it was reported that they involved the alleged terrorists each avoiding the death penalty, according to the New York Post. Relatives of 9/11 victims were reportedly told as much by the Office of Military Commissions (OMC).
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Sen. Dick Durbin is calling on Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to reinstate a plea agreement for 9/11 masterminds that was revoked last week. (Getty Images)
The news was followed by significant backlash, with family members of 9/11 victims reacting in fear.
"You know, after seeing this, like, I'm so afraid we're not going to get justice for my cousin and all the thousands killed that day and their families," Joe Connor, whose cousin, Steve Schlag, was killed on 9/11 and whose father, Frank, was killed in the 1975 FALN terrorist attack on the Fraunces Tavern in New York City, told Fox News Digital.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"A slap in the face to America and her honored dead," Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, described the deal.
By Friday of last week, Austin announced he was withdrawing the plea agreements and relieving the official who had coordinated the deals under his authority.
"I have determined that, in light of the significance of the decision to enter into pre-trial agreements with the accused in the above-referenced case, responsibility for such a decision should rest with me as the superior convening authority under the Military Commissions Act of 2009," Austin wrote in the order.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was one of the accused terrorists who entered into a plea agreement. (AP)
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"Effective immediately, I hereby withdraw your authority in the above-referenced case to enter into a pre-trial agreement and reserve such authority to myself. Effective immediately, in the exercise of my authority, I hereby withdraw from the three pre-trial agreements that you signed on July 31, 2024 in the above-referenced case," Austin said.
Fox News Digital's Stepheny Price, Louis Casiano, and Ashley Papa contributed to this report.