US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Tuesday, August 6, that the American people and the relatives of the dead should be allowed to watch the trial of the other defendants, including the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
When the plea agreements involving 9/11 mastermind Mohammed and two suspected accomplices were revealed on July 31, it infuriated the families and loved ones of those who perished on September 11, 2001.
Leading Republican lawmakers also criticized it, and two days later, US Defense Chief Austin canceled the agreement.
During a press conference in Annapolis on Tuesday, Austin stated, “The families of the victims, our service members, and the American public deserve the opportunity to witness the military commission trials being conducted in this case.”
“The only thing worse than negotiating with terrorists is negotiating with them after they are in custody,” stated Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
The fact that the guys suspected of killing their loved ones entered into a plea agreement with the US government and essentially avoided the death penalty further infuriated some of the victims’ relatives.
The defendants in the trials against the 9/11 attack suspects have been imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay throughout lengthy pre-trial procedures.
The details of the agreements remained undisclosed; however, as per the New York Times, Mohammed, Walid bin Attash, and Mustafa al-Hawsawi consented to admit conspiracy in exchange for life in jail, so averting the possibility of a capital trial.
The defendants’ accusations of an unfair trial as a result of torture they suffered at the hands of the CIA after 9/11 dominated much of the legal fighting. The plea deals provided a means of avoiding this difficult situation.
The plea agreements provided a means of avoiding the complicated legal issues raised by the defendants’ claims of an unfair trial as a result of CIA torture carried out after 9/11. The three men are charged with a number of crimes, including attack on civilians, murder committed in violation of the laws of war, hijacking, and terrorism. Reportedly, the Biden administration turned down a plea deal in September of last year. The 9/11 attack was the deadliest on US soil since World War II, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii in 1941, killing 2,400 people.
