Families of September 11 victims have denounced a December 2024 court ruling that would effectively pave the way for three September 11 terrorists held at Guantanamo Bay to avoid the death penalty.
Under the Biden administration’s watch, a military judge in July approved plea deals for three terrorists, including alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, but days later, Lloyd Austin The Secretary of Defense intervened and invalidated the agreement. On Monday, an appeals court ruled that Austin acted too late and exceeded his authority in scuttling the deal, putting the deal back on the table and frustrating the families of the victims of America’s worst terrorist attack. The court upheld an earlier ruling restraining the intervention. history. (Related: 9/11 widow condemns Biden administration’s ‘outrageous’ plea deal attempt for Gitmo terrorists)
American flags and flowers line the memorial pool at the National September 11 Memorial to commemorate the 22nd anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, 2023. (Photo by Brian R. Smith/AFP via Getty Images)
Specifically, it would remove the death penalty from the agenda in exchange for three Guantanamo Bay prisoners pleading guilty to war crimes charges. of detainee The deal targets Mr. Mohammed, who is widely believed to have masterminded the attack, Mr. Walid bin Atash, who is suspected of having trained and assisted the hijackers in advance, and Mr.・These include Mustafa Al Hawsawi, who is suspected of providing logistical support. Some of the 9/11 hijackers.
Decades after his father was killed by a Puerto Rican terrorist, Joe Connor, who lost his cousin Steve Schrag on 9/11, said the context of the case adds even more emotional weight to a difficult and sensitive situation. He said he is doing so.
“This back and forth is painful for the family. The terrorists and now the U.S. government have sentenced the family to life in prison. A life of endless fear and uncertainty. The day will come when justice will be served for my cousin Steve Schrag and 3,000 others. Could it be?” Connor told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Our family, Steve and all the victims of 9/11, have been betrayed again by a government that forced these mass murderers to confess to capital crimes years ago and now allows them to avoid the death penalty again. I feel like…it’s sickening because we never got justice for our family Steve Schrag and Frank Connor. Our family feels like justice is “just for us.” ”
Helen Quinn lost her husband Michael several years after September 11th. Michael was a hard-working electrician who worked at Ground Zero for more than two years during the massive cleanup after 9/11, but ultimately died of kidney disease, she said. That’s because of the toxic gases and particles that workers like her husband were exposed to while working in the area of the collapsed tower.
“Certainly, I think the consensus is that they definitely should be held accountable. It’s not just lives that they took that day. There’s been so much more since it happened, and it’s now continues,” Quinn told DCNF. “It’s children losing their parents, people getting divorced, people being unable to take care of themselves, and people dying slowly from horrible diseases years later. It’s a snowballing phenomenon, and it’s been going on for 20-odd years. I think it’s very unfortunate if they’re going to give these people plea deals, I think it’s going to be pretty bad.”
“If they were spared from going to trial, and it was just because of red tape, that would be really bad,” Quinn added.
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