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       MIAMI: US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Thursday he still believed he should be the one to decide the fate of plea deals for the man accused of masterminding the Sept 11 attacks and two accomplices held at the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

       Earlier this year Austin rescinded plea deals that the Pentagon had entered into with the trio, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

       This week a US military judge ruled that Austin had acted too late on revoking the plea deals and they were still valid.

       Austin did not say whether he would formally appeal the decision by the judge, but said his views had not changed on the issue.

       “What I told you (a few months ago) was that this is a very important issue, and I thought at that point in time it was important enough that I should be the person that made the decision on this,” Austin told reporters.

       “And I still feel that same way”

       In a statement, Pentagon spokesperson Air Force Major General Patrick Ryder said Austin was reviewing the decision by the judge.

       The Pentagon has said Austin was surprised by the plea deals and the secretary was not consulted because it is an independent process.

       Many Republican lawmakers, including House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, had strongly criticised the plea deals.

       Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is the most well known inmate at the detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, which was set up in 2002 by then-president George Bush to house foreign suspects following the Sept 11, 2001, attacks.

       Published in Dawn, November 9th, 2024