An agreement was reached with the organizers of the attack on the Twin Towers in New York.
Photo: GLOBAL LOOK PRESS.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has called off the plea deal with those accused of organizing the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack. The investigation then promised not to apply the death penalty to the organizers of the attack on the Twin Towers in New York if they admitted their guilt.
“In light of the importance of the decision to enter into pretrial agreements with the defendants in this case, responsibility for such a decision should rest with me as the most senior,” the Pentagon chief said in a statement.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has cancelled the plea deal reached with those accused of organizing the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001.
Photo: GLOBAL LOOK PRESS.
This was followed by the dismissal of a senior official who struck a deal with the accused terrorists as part of a pre-trial agreement. According to the Office of the Chief Prosecutor of the Military Commissions, which is prosecuting the 9/11 terrorist attack, on July 31, its representative signed an agreement with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the main organizer of the attacks by the al-Qaeda terrorist group banned in Russia, and two of his accomplices, Waleed bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi. They have been imprisoned at the US military base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba since 2003. The agreement was reached after negotiations that lasted 27 months.
“In exchange for the elimination of the death penalty as a possible sentence, these three defendants agreed to plead guilty to all of the crimes charged, including the murder of the 2,976 individuals listed in the indictment,” the department said in a statement. It also notes that the suspects agreed to answer any questions, including from family members of those killed in the terrorist attack.
The plea hearing, according to the New York Post, was supposed to take place next week, but due to Lloyd Austin’s memo, it will not take place. The sentencing hearings on the arrests are expected to take place next summer.
The loved ones of those killed on September 11 were outraged to learn that a pre-trial agreement ruled out the death penalty. They therefore welcomed the decision of the Pentagon chief.
“We are very pleased that the US government has cancelled the agreement and that these terrorists will be brought to justice,” said Firefighters Association President Andrew Ansbrough.
On September 11, 2001, a series of terrorist attacks took place: two passenger planes crashed into the north and south towers of the World Trade Center in New York. As a result of the collision, the skyscrapers collapsed. The victims of the attack were almost 3,000 people, including 19 terrorists.
* Terrorist group banned in Russia.
