9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, 4 accomplices may be SPARED from death penalty
Nearly two decades after the 9/11 attack, Pentagon prosecutors are reportedly working on a deal that would spare Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the mastermind behind the attack, and his four companions -- Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin Attash, Ramzi Bin al-Shibh, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi -- from the death penalty. Instead, these terrorists could be sentenced to life imprisonment.
In the 9/11 attack of 2001, 2,977 people died, but since then, hundreds more have died after breathing in toxic particles that were released from the rubble. Khalid Mohammad and his four fellow terrorists have been accused of training the terrorists and organizing the hijacking of the four planes that were used to carry out the attack. The charges imposed on them for the grave attack include terrorism, hijacking aircraft, conspiracy, murder in violation of the law of war, attacking civilians, attacking civilian objects, intentionally causing serious bodily injury, and destruction of property in violation of the law of war.
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18 years after 9/11 attacks, al-Qaeda mastermind and 4 other co-conspirators still await trial
(Robert Giroux/Getty Images)
According to New York Times, guilty pleas from all the men could get them life sentences instead of the death penalty. The publication also reported that Clayton Trivett Jr, lead prosecutor, asked defense teams if pretrial agreements were possible for all five suspects. Those involved in the discussions have reportedly said the defense wrote a list of requirements necessary for a guilty plea that started with the elimination of the death penalty as an option. They also said the discussion will continue through the month before it is passed on to National Guard Col. Jeffrey Wood for his signature.
(FBI/Getty Images)
If the prosecutors can come to an agreement after the discussions, then it could finally close the case that's been open for two decades, the longest in the history of the war court. If the deal is reached and the five men are sentenced to life in prison.
This could complicate President Joe Biden's promise to close Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp, a notorious offshore detention facility in Cuba that costs taxpayers millions of dollars each year. Biden is reportedly taking steps to close it down but he was waiting for all the prisoners to leave. So, if the deal is closed, then Mohammad and his accomplices, who are currently at the facility, will be moved to another prison, and the government can close the facility permanently.
Even if the judiciary is planning on the deal, family members of those who died on the 9/11 attack or subsequently lost their lives due to inhaling toxins feel that they lost in the fight for justice if life sentences are handed down.
Father and daughter duo Jim and Patricia Smith, who lost their wife and mother in the attack, have been constantly fighting for justice. The duo feels extremely sad with the news as they had really hoped that they would get justice. Now, 22-year-old Patricia has volunteered to testify against the attackers.