The mastermind of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 Americans could still face the death penalty after a judge threw out a plea deal that would have let him serve life in prison.
An appeals court on Friday threw out an agreement for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed that would have allowed him to plead guilty to orchestrating the plot and avoid a trial at Guantanamo Bay.
Plea deals with Mohammed as well as two alleged accomplices – Walid bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi – sparked fury among 9/11 families when they were announced in July last year.
Mohammed is accused of spearheading the attacks where commercial jetliners crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and into a field in Pennsylvania.
President Joe Biden’s Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin then reversed the decision, sparking a legal fight that ended up in the courts.
The ruling by a 2-1 panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upended to bring the trio’s military prosecution to an end.
Brett Eagleson, whose father Bruce was on the 17th floor of the World Trade Center South Tower when it was hit by American Airlines Flight 11, told Daily Mail the decision was welcome news.
But he expects Mohammed and his accomplices will appeal the decision, dragging out the case that has been in gridlock for more than 20 years.
The mastermind of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 Americans is the death penalty again after a judge threw out a plea deal that would have let him serve life in prison
Plea deals with Mohammed as well as two alleged accomplices – Walid bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi – sparked fury among 9/11 families when they were announced in July last year
Brett Eagleson, who was 15 when he lost his father Bruce (pictured right with him) in the South Tower 24 years ago, said the deal is a momentary victory
He called it a ‘welcome sign in a 24-year pursuit of justice’ and called the plea deals approved last year ‘abhorrent’.
Eagleson said: ‘For the moment, it’s a win. They (the government) wanted to put the whole 9/11 issue to bed.
The deal, he said, would have allowed the Mohammed and the accomplices to live out their days with more ‘family and prayer time’ in a federal prison.
‘Now we can get closure. The families and the American people are potentially going to see a trial and finally see the truth.
‘The government already failed us on 9/11 and then re-victimized us with the plea deals’.