The union representing New York City firefighters said its members are “disgusted and disappointed” by the plea deals that spared the death penalty for alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two other terrorists.
The Pentagon announced Wednesday that it had reached pretrial agreements with Mohammed, Walid Mohammed Saleh Mubarak bin Attash and Mustafa Ahmed Adam al-Hawsawi, three of whom are awaiting trial in Guantanamo Bay.
“In exchange for eliminating the possibility of the death penalty, the three defendants have agreed to plead guilty to all charges against them, including the murder of the 2,976 people listed in the indictment,” Maj. Gen. Aaron Lew, chief prosecutor for the Office of Military Commissions, wrote in a letter sent yesterday to families of victims of the 9/11 attacks. New York Post.
“On behalf of New York City firefighters, especially the survivors of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks who live with the illnesses and injuries we suffered that day, we are outraged and disappointed that these three terrorists have been granted plea deals and avoided ultimate justice, while three FDNY heroes die each month from World Trade Center Illness,” FDNY Uniformed Firefighters Association President Andrew Ansbro said in a statement Thursday.
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The terms of a plea deal reportedly spared suspected 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed the death penalty. (Associated Press)
The Office of Military Commissions did not immediately respond to a request from Fox News Digital this morning.
The head of 9/11 Justice, a group that describes itself as a “grassroots movement of families of victims of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001,” also said Thursday that “we are deeply troubled by these plea agreements.”
“While we acknowledge the decision to avoid the death penalty, our primary concern remains getting information from these individuals,” said 9/11 Attorney General Brett Eagleson. “These plea agreements should not deny victims’ families the opportunity to learn the truth and perpetuate a system of backroom agreements where critical information is hidden.”
The defendants are accused of providing training, funding and other assistance to 19 terrorists who hijacked passenger planes on September 11, 2001, and crashed them into the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
9/11 mastermind and two others reach plea deal while awaiting trial, leaving victims’ families “deeply disappointed”
Smoke billows from the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center after two hijacked planes crashed into them during the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York City. (Robert Giroux/Getty Images)
The attack was the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil in U.S. history and left nearly 3,000 people dead.
According to the Department of Defense, the three, along with Ali Abdul Aziz Ali and Ramzi bin al-Shib, were originally indicted and arraigned jointly on June 5, 2008, and then jointly indicted again on May 5, 2012, and arraigned a second time in connection with their roles in the attack.
Families and people of 9/11 victims pay tribute to their loved ones on the 22nd anniversary of the September 11 attacks at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum in New York City on September 11, 2023. (Fatih Aktas/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
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They are scheduled to be sentenced at Guantanamo Bay on August 5.
Fox News’ Louis Casiano contributed to this report.
