US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin on Friday (Aug 2) revoked plea deals agreed to earlier this week with the man accused of masterminding the Sept 11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and two accomplices, who are held at the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The Pentagon said on Wednesday the plea deals had been entered into but did not elaborate on details. A US official said they almost certainly involved guilty pleas in exchange for taking the death penalty off the table.

However on Friday, Austin relieved Susan Escallier, who oversees the Pentagon's Guantanamo war court, of her authority to enter into pre-trial agreements in the case and took on the responsibility himself.

"Effective immediately, in the exercise of my authority, I hereby withdraw from the three pre-trial agreements...," Austin wrote in a memo.

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

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