Latest news with #911attacks
The Sun
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Sun
Terrorist mastermind of 9/11 Khalid Sheikh Mohammed could be sentenced to DEATH at Guantanamo Bay trial
THE chief architect of the 9/11 terrorist attacks could be sentenced to death after a court tossed out a plea deal that would have saved his life. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is accused of masterminding the September 11, 2001 attacks against the United States - and was regarded as one of al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden's most trusted henchmen. 7 7 7 In 2003, the CIA captured him in Pakistan, after which he spent three years in secret prisons before arriving at Guantanamo in 2006. He is said to have planned out the deadly attacks from "A to Z" -- and was also involved in a string of major plots against the US, where he attended university. Mohammed as well as two alleged accomplices -- Walid bin Attash and Mustafa al-Hawsawi -- struck a deal with prosecutors on July 31 and agreed to plead guilty in exchange for a life sentence. The deal would allow the trio to be spared from the death penalty and remain jailed on the southern portion of the American Naval base in Cuba. The agreement has sparked outrage from family members of victims who died during the 9/11 attacks. But a US appeals court on Friday scrapped the agreement, saying that both they and the American public deserved to see the defendants stand trial. Lloyd Austin, the Secretary of Defence under the Biden administration, attempted to halt the agreement by filing a motion to a military appeals court. In his brief, Austin cited the magnitude of the 9/11 attacks and argued that as defence secretary, he should decide on any plea agreements that would save the three men from the death penalty. Austin "acted within the bounds of his legal authority, and we decline to second-guess his judgment," judges Patricia Millett and Neomi Rao wrote in a ruling today. Congressional lawmakers have also slammed the plea deal, calling it a "national disgrace" and a "total miscarriage of justice." "The Biden-Harris Administration's weakness in the face of sworn enemies of the American people apparently knows no bounds," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell at the time. "The plea deal with terrorists – including Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks that killed thousands of Americans – is a revolting abdication of the government's responsibility to defend America and provide justice. "The only thing worse than negotiating with terrorists is negotiating with them after they are in custody." Mohammed and al-Hawsawi were captured on March 1, 2003, in a joint CIA and Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence operation in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi. Walid bin Attash was captured in Karachi, Pakistan, in April 2003. Mohammed was held in secret CIA prisons up until his transfer to Guantánamo Bay in September 2006. However, before he was moved to Guantánamo, government officials interrogated Mohammed and his accomplices for years, torturing them and keeping them isolated in undisclosed locations. Mohammed endured 183 rounds of waterboarding - a form of torture where a person experiences the sensation of drowning when water is poured over a cloth covering their face. 7 7 7 Key figures behind 9/11 Here are some of the key figures involved in the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Hijackers on American Airlines Flight 11 Mohamed Atta Abdulaziz al-Omari Wail al-Shehri Waleed al-Shehri Satam al-Suqami Hijackers on United Airlines Flight 175 Marwan al-Shehhi Fayez Banihammad Mohand al-Shehri Hamza al-Ghamdi Ahmed al-Ghamdi Hijackers on American Airlines Flight 77 Hani Hanjour Khalid al-Mihdhar Majed Moqed Nawaf al-Hazmi Salem al-Hazmi Hijackers on United Airlines Flight 93 Ziad Jarrah Ahmed al-Haznawi Ahmed al-Nami Saeed al-Ghamdi Three suspects have also accepted a plea deal in the two decades since the attacks - Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Walid Bin Attash, and Mustafa al-Hawsawi. The men, along with Ali Abdul Aziz Ali and Ramzi Bin al Shibh, were jointly arraigned on June 5, 2008, and again on May 5, 2012. Al-Hawsawi was charged with helping the hijackers with their finances and travel arrangements. TERROR ATTACKS At least 2,753 people died at the site of the World Trade Center, where two planes crashed into the towers on September 11, 2001. A third plane hit the Pentagon, while a fourth, which was planned to strike Washington DC, crashed in a field in Pennsylvania after crew members and passengers stormed the cockpit. The heinous attacks sparked the war on terror after President George W. Bush ordered the US military to invade Afghanistan and Iraq in search of the terrorists responsible. The US government was warned by the CIA that the likely targets would be famous landmarks or symbols of US capitalism - but they did not know when or how. And none of them could have imagined the extent or horror of 9/11 when it did happen. On May 1, 2011, the most classified operation of the last 25 years was launched to kill Osama Bin Laden. The Saudi-born terror chief became the world's most wanted man, hiding in plain sight in Pakistan for years before U.S. Navy SEALs took him out in a daring raid. In the cover of night, Seal Team Six was sent to Abbottabad in Pakistan - where Bin Laden was hiding. Within minutes, the Seals were within the compound and shot and killed the world's most wanted terrorist. 9/11 timeline of events On September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda operatives coordinated a terrorist attack against the United States, hijacking four commerical airplanes and crashing them into the Twin Towers and Pentagon. Timeline: 5:45 am: Two hijackers get through security in Portland, Maine, and board a flight to Boston, where they will link up with three more hijackers and check in for American Airlines Flight 11 to Los Angeles. 7:59 am: American Airlines Flight 11 takes off. The plane is carrying 76 passengers, 11 crew members, and five hijackers. 8:15 am: United Airlines Flight 175, carrying 51 passengers, nine crew, and five hijackers, takes off from Boston to Los Angeles. 8:20 am: American Airlines Flight 77 takes off from Washington DC Dulles to Los Angeles. The plane is carrying 53 passengers, six crew members, and five hijackers. 8:42 am: United Airlines Flight 93 takes off from Newark. The plane is carrying 33 passengers, seven crew members, and four hijackers. The flight was bound for San Francisco. 8:46 am: Flight 11 crashes into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. 9:03 am: Flight 175 hits the South Tower of the World Trade Center. 9:36 am: Vice President Dick Cheney is evacuated by Secret Service agents to an undisclosed location. 9:37 am: Flight 77 hits the Pentagon building in Washington DC. 9:45 am: The US Capitol and White House are both evacuated. 9:59 am: The South Tower is the first to collapse after burning for around 56 minutes. 10:03 am: United Airlines flight 93 crashes into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The passengers and crew got together and stormed the cockpit of the hijacked plane. All on board are killed. 10:28 am: The North Tower collapses. 8:30 pm: President George W. Bush addresses the US from the White House regarding the attacks. Almost 3,000 Americans died in the terror attacks.
Al Jazeera
4 days ago
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
US court nixes guilty plea for alleged 9/11 attacks mastermind
Washington, DC – An appeals court in the United States has validated the decision of former Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin to withdraw a plea deal for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks on the US in 2001. A panel of judges at the Washington, DC-based federal court of appeals ruled on Friday that Austin 'had full legal authority' to revoke the plea agreement for Mohammed and two other defendants. That deal would have spared Mohammed the possibility of the death penalty in exchange for a plea of guilty. Friday's decision will prolong a decades-long legal saga for Mohammed, who has been imprisoned at a notorious detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since he was captured in Pakistan in 2003. Austin revoked the deal in August of last year, saying that the US public and victims' families 'deserve the opportunity to see' the case brought to trial before a military commission — an alternative justice system established for Guantanamo detainees. But any trial is likely to be fraught with challenges — including questions about evidence obtained by torture — and will take years, extending the legal limbo for the Guantanamo detainees. A military judge reinstated the plea agreements in November, and a military appeals court affirmed the decision one month later. The administration of former President Joe Biden then took the case to a federal civilian court of appeals. Lawyers for defendants like Mohammed argued that Austin was too late to revoke the agreements, parts of which were already materialising. But the court of appeals in Washington, DC, ultimately ruled that Austin was right to wait for the outcome of the plea negotiations before revoking the deals. Writing on behalf of the court's majority, Judges Patricia Millett and Neomi Rao said that preventing the withdrawal of the deal would have sent the message that plea agreements are 'irrevocable upon signing'. 'The Secretary acted within the bounds of his legal authority, and we decline to second-guess his judgment,' the ruling read. However, dissenting Judge Robert Wilkins decried the decision as revoking a contract that was already in effect. He likened nixing the plea agreement to refusing to pay a painter who has already finished parts of the work stipulated in a home repairs contract. For years, rights groups have called for shutting down the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, known as Gitmo. The prison opened in 2002 to house prisoners from the so-called 'war on terror' following the attacks in the US on September 11, 2001. Detainees were arrested in countries across the world on suspicions of ties to al-Qaeda and other groups. Many endured torture at secret detention facilities, known as black sites, before being transferred to Guantanamo. At Gitmo, civil liberty advocates say detainees had few legal rights. Even those cleared for release through the military commissions remained imprisoned for years, with no recourse to challenge their detention. The detention facility once housed nearly 800 Muslim men and teenage boys. Now only 15 prisoners remain at the prison; three are eligible for release.
