President Joe Biden refused to agree to conditions relating to the confinement and treatment of the final five defendants connected to the September 11th attacks being held at Guantanamo Bay, shutting down a potential plea agreement, NBC News reports.
To secure guilty pleas which would result in life sentences, avoiding the death penalty, the prisoners wanted assurances that they would not be held in solitary confinement and that they would receive treatment for the mental and physical trauma they experienced while they were being tortured at the Cuban facility or at other locations. Biden refused those and other demands.
The pre-trial hearings have been going on for more than a decade for the five men, which includes Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged “architect” of the 9/11 attacks. Along with these five men, there are still 25 other prisoners being held at Gitmo.