According to the Defense Department, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has agreed to enter a guilty plea.
It comes almost 23 years after Al-Qaeda committed the most deadly terror attack ever in American and world history.
Mohammed and his accomplices Walid Bin Attash, Mustafa al-Hawsawi are all expected to plead guilty at the Military Commission at Guantanamo, Cuba as early as next week.
This development may bring about a resolution that has been long delayed to an attack which claimed thousands of victims and forever changed the social and political landscape in the world.
The defense lawyers requested the men be sentenced to life imprisonment
Department of Defense said.
Susan Escallier has signed pretrial agreements for Khalid Shaikh Mohammad and Walid Muhammad Salaih Mubarak bin ‘Attash as well as Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi. These three co-accused are charged in the case of 9/11. Public access to specific details of these agreements is not possible at the moment.
In exchange for the guilty pleas, defense lawyers asked that these men be given life terms.
The federal government sent letters to the relatives of nearly 3,000 9/11 victims.
In a letter sent to families by Rear Admiral Aaron Rugh (chief prosecutor), the prosecution said in exchange for the death penalty being removed, that the three defendants would plead guilty on all counts, including murdering 2,976 individuals.
ABC News said that a group of officers will sentence them.
The family members of 9/11 confirmed also accepted to answer questions “regarding the role and motivations for the attack” from those who asked.
Respondents must submit their replies within 90 days.
Human rights groups have welcomed this decision. They call it “just”, as a response to US torture.
Families of 9/11 victims have mixed reactions
Three men could be sentenced by a military court next year.
Some family members are happy that a solution is in sight. Others are clearly upset by the absence of a trial for the death penalty.
Brett Eagleson is the president of 9/11 Justice. This organisation represents victims and survivors. The families are “deeply disturbed” by these plea bargains and want more information on Saudi Arabia’s role in the attack.
We acknowledge that the choice to not execute these people was made, but our main concern is the access they have to information. The plea agreements should not be a way to perpetuate an agreement system where vital information is kept secret without giving victims’ families the opportunity to know the truth.
Terry Strada is the leader of a second group of families. He invoked many of his relatives that have passed away while waiting for justice and spoke of the accused.
When they plotted the attack, they were cowards. They’re still cowards.
Strada stated that many families just wanted the men to admit their guilt, but personally she expected a trial with punishment.
Michael Burke’s brother was a fireman who died during the attack.
Nuremberg took a few months, or even a whole year. It’s been an embarrassment to me that 23 years after the attacks or crime, these men haven’t been tried and convicted. It’s been 23 years since the attack. I don’t know why it took this long.
Burke emphasized the contradiction between the deal and the expectation of justice immediately following the attack.
Billy Burke’s brother demonstrated heroics by remaining with two men who were unable to escape the North Tower at the World Trade Center. This demonstrates the loss that many families have suffered.
History and delayed justice
More than 20 years since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the US has reached an agreement with defendants.
The fateful day was when militants hijacked 4 commercial aircraft, three of which crashed in the World Trade Center and Pentagon (New York), while the fourth plane crashed after the passengers tried to overcome the hijackers.
Mohammed was arrested in 2003. He is believed to be the one who first thought of using aircraft as weapons.
Waterboarding was used 183 times on him while he was in CIA custody, before he transferred to Guantanamo.
Torture has proved to be a major obstacle for the prosecution. It renders much evidence unadmissible, and causes lengthy delays during the proceedings.
Daphne Eviatar is a director of Amnesty International USA. She welcomed accountability, but called for closure of Guantanamo detention center. Biden Administration was urged to make sure that such abuses sanctioned by the state do not occur again.
She said that the Biden Administration must take “all necessary measures” to make sure that no state sanctioned forced disappearances, torture or other forms of ill treatment will ever be committed by Americans again.
These attacks led to the US Government’s “war against terror”, which resulted in military incursions into Afghanistan and Iraq, and operations targeting extremist groups throughout the Middle East.
The Arab Spring of 2011 was a significant upheaval in politics, with the fall of many governments and widespread destruction.
ACLU, the American Civil Liberties Union, said the DoD made the right decision. Anthony D. Romero is the executive director of ACLU.
After nearly 20 years of legal battles, it’s the only solution that makes sense. The U.S. government has been defending its torture at Guantanamo and the unconstitutional military courts there for too long. This plea is both just and necessary because the military commissions have been doomed since the beginning. Finalizing these cases through a plea deal will provide transparency for the 9/11 families and justice.
What is the political situation ahead of US Presidential elections?
In the US Presidential campaign, the Republican Party did not hesitate to invoke the decision.
JD Vance, the vice-presidential candidate for Trump’s campaign, blasted this deal during a speech in Glendale Arizona on Wednesday.
Vance stated, “Now think of the fact that Joe Biden and Kamala have used the Department of Justice as a weapon to pursue their political rivals, yet they are cutting sweet deals with the 9/11 terrorists.”
We need a President who will kill terrorists and not negotiate with them.
House Speaker Mike Johnson condemned the decision of the prosecutor’s office.
The post Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two other terrorists reach plea agreement with US may be updated as new information becomes available
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