An agreement with the US judiciary could spare the alleged master planner Khalid Sheikh Mohammed the death penalty. Republicans, as well as some of those affected, do not understand this.
A judicial agreement announced by the US government with the alleged chief planner of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and other co-defendants has been met with incomprehension by both Republicans and some of those affected. The chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Accountability in the US House of Representatives, James Comer, sharply criticized the agreement in a letter to US President Joe Biden.
Comer also demanded information about whether the government played a role in negotiating the deal. Biden’s National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, denied this when asked by journalists on Thursday.
The US Department of Defense had previously announced that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two other defendants wanted to enter into an agreement with the judiciary and plead guilty. The exact details were not made public at first. The further procedure also remained unclear.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has been in the notorious US prison camp at Guantánamo in Cuba for many years and, according to US media reports, would escape the death penalty through the agreement. According to the reports, allegations of torture against the USA were central to the deal. Legal experts warned that any confessions in a court case could therefore not stand up.
New York Fire Department “betrayed and disgusted”
Republicans, however, immediately criticized the agreement. “They (…) are signaling to our enemies that the United States is not prepared to take tough action against those who attack our country,” wrote Comer. He also complained about an “absolute lack of transparency.” His party colleague Mike Johnson, who chairs the House of Representatives, had already expressed similar criticism: Biden’s administration had done “the unthinkable.” The victims’ families “deserve better.”
After the agreement was announced, several first responders and relatives of victims who did not agree with the deal also spoke out in the US media. The New York Fire Department’s union said its members felt “betrayed and disgusted.”
Thousands of people died
On September 11, 2001, around 3,000 people were killed in the worst terrorist attack to date in the United States. Islamic terrorists flew three hijacked passenger planes into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon near Washington. A fourth plane crashed in the state of Pennsylvania. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is considered the chief planner of the attacks and is also said to have organized the communications and financing of the plan.
He was arrested in Pakistan in 2003. He was then interrogated by the US secret service CIA. According to a report by the US Senate, he was tortured during the interrogations. In 2006, he was transferred to the US prison camp at Guantánamo. There he was to be tried before a military tribunal. However, the proceedings against him and several co-defendants were delayed for years.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
