OAN Staff Sophia Flores
6:30 PM – Wednesday, July 31, 2024
Three men who are accused of planning out the 9/11 attacks that killed 2,976 innocent people have reached a plea agreement with U.S. prosecutors.
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In a statement released on Wednesday, the Office of Military Commissions (OMC) announced that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two other co-conspirators, Walid Muhammad Salih Mubarak Bin Attash and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al Hawsawi, pleaded guilty to planning the largest terrorist attack on U.S. soil.
According to reports, the men pleaded guilty in exchange for life sentences, rather than their originally intended death sentences.
“In exchange for removal of the death penalty as a possible punishment, these three accused have agreed to plead guilty to all of the charged offenses, including the murder of the 2,976 people listed in the charge sheet,” said a letter signed by Rear Adm. Aaron C. Rugh, chief prosecutor for the OMC.
Needless to say, families of the victims were not pleased about the news of the plea deal.
Daniel D’Allara, whose twin brother, John D’Allara’, was killed during the attacks, spoke to the New York Post outlet about his thoughts on the matter. His brother was also one of the 23 NYPD police officers who lost his life while trying to save others.
“I am very disappointed. We waited patiently for a long time. I wanted the death penalty — the government has failed us,” he said.
Retired police officer Jim Smith felt like he “was kicked” when he found out the news. His wife, Moira Smith, was the only female officer who died on 9/11.
“The prosecution and families have waited 23 years to have our day in court to put on the record what these animals did to our loved ones. They took that opportunity away from us,” he said. “They committed the worst crime in the history of our country, they should receive the highest penalty.”
The trio were all first jointly charged in 2008 and then again in 2012 in connection to the tragedy. Since being in U.S. custody, they have been spending time at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, a United States military prison.
In 2008, Mohammed was charged with a list of crimes, including conspiracy, murder in violation of the law of war, attacking civilian objects, intentionally causing serious bodily injury, attacking civilians, destruction of property in violation of the law of war, terrorism, and material support of terrorism.
Mohammed is said to have been the individual who first proposed the September 11th, 2001 attack to the now-deceased Osama bin Laden. He then went on to play a massive part in planning the attack, as he had trained some of the plane hijackers.
Bin ‘Attash allegedly trained the terrorist hijackers in hand-to-hand combat, as well as taking on the responsibility of researching the airline timetables.
Additionally, Al Hawsawi contributed to the terrorist attack by helping the hijackers with their “finances and travel arrangements.”
They are set to be sentenced in Guantánamo Bay on August, 5th.
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