Justice deal finalized
9/11 masterminds: USA cancels plea agreement
Following fierce criticism, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has revoked plea agreements with the alleged chief planner of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and two co-defendants.
He stated in the order published on Friday evening (local time) that, given the importance of the case, "the responsibility for such a decision should rest with me".
"In the exercise of my authority, I hereby withdraw, effective immediately, the three pretrial agreements," the defense attorney continued. This means that the defendants could once again face the death penalty.
The Pentagon only announced on Wednesday that the justice deal had been negotiated, but gave no further details. According to a report in the "New York Times", the three men had agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy. In exchange, they would receive a life sentence instead of a trial at which the death penalty could be imposed on them.
About 9/11
On September 11, 2001, around 3,000 people were killed in the worst terrorist attack in the United States to date. Islamist terrorists had piloted 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 regarded as the chief planner and is also said to have organized the communication and financing of the project.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is regarded as the chief planner of the attacks and has been held in the notorious US prison camp Guantánamo in Cuba for many years. He was arrested in Pakistan in 2003.
He was subsequently interrogated by the US secret service CIA. According to a report by the US Senate, he was tortured during the interrogations.
This article has been automatically translated,
read the original article here.
Da dieser Artikel älter als 18 Monate ist, ist zum jetzigen Zeitpunkt kein Kommentieren mehr möglich.
Wir laden Sie ein, bei einer aktuelleren themenrelevanten Story mitzudiskutieren: Themenübersicht.
Bei Fragen können Sie sich gern an das Community-Team per Mail an forum@krone.at wenden.