Washington. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, accused of being the main plotter in the Sept. 11, 2001, al-Qaeda attacks on the United States, has agreed to plead guilty, the Defense Department said Wednesday, pointing to a resolution to an attack that altered the course of the United States and much of the Middle East.
Sheikh Mohammed and two accomplices, Walid bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi, are expected to plead guilty next week before the military commission at the US prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Pentagon officials declined to make public the terms of the plea agreement. The newspaper New York Timesciting unnamed Pentagon officials, said the terms included the men’s long-standing condition of avoiding the risk of being sentenced to death.
The U.S. agreement with the men to plead guilty comes more than 16 years after their prosecution for the al-Qaida attack began. It also comes more than 20 years after the attackers crashed commercial airliners they had taken control of. The attack killed nearly 3,000 people and triggered years of U.S. wars in countries across the Middle East.
Terry Strada, national president of a group of victims’ families called 9/11 Families United, was in Manhattan federal court for a hearing on one of the many civil lawsuits when she learned of the plea deal.
Strada said many families just wanted to see the men admit their guilt.
“Personally, I wanted to see a trial,” he said. “And they have simply taken away the justice that I expected, a trial and punishment.”
“They were cowards when they planned the attack. And they are cowards today,” he said.
Dozens of relatives of those killed died while awaiting resolution of the case, Strada said.
The man accused of orchestrating the September 11, 2001 attacks, and two of his co-defendants, will escape the death penalty by pleading guilty in a deal that seeks to end years of legal battles over their detention. Infographic Graphic News
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– 2024-08-09 19:27:25
